Fighting Against Destiny
by Twilit Phoenix
Summary: Post War Zutara with cliche title... Aang defeats the Fire Lord, post war alliances are made, Zuko takes his place as the new Fire Lord with Katara, but these small victories are the only things that go right as everything else falls apart...
1. A New Beginning

**I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender**, sadly…

This is the start of my new Fanfiction. It will be Zutara, yeah, but it might take a while to get the two of them to see that… yes it is one those _post-war stories_ where the two of them get stuck together due to keeping the peace, **I know the plot is overused**, but I was hoping to take it and make something new out of it… ;) I wrote parts of it before the finale, and yes I am aware that Kataang happened… but that's what you get from a show where the intended audience is 7 to 12… anyway some of the parts (like Azula going crazy/ Iroh not returning to the Fire Nation) are not included in this story (I personally love Azula and think she only went crazy for the creators to show her weakness and that it was greatly over exaggerated…)

the double dash ( -- ) means a change of scene, while a blank line between two paragraphs means a change in time in the same scene…

* * *

Chapter 1) _A New Beginning_

Aang stumbled back through the gilded, grand doors that had led him to the throne room. His expression held an equal mixture of regret and optimism as he looked to his friends. The throne room no longer held anything of value; tapestries were burned, statues and armor were smashed. Aang stepped over the ancient suit of rusty armor he had been thrown against when the battle first began and stumbled to Katara. The waterbender caught him as he collapsed into her arms, sinking to the floor with him in her embrace.

"Aang," she smiled. The airbender closed his eyes as he leaned against Katara. Footsteps rushed into the room, and Katara turned to see who it was, her hand instinctively going to her long drained water skin. Sokka walked over and leaned to see Aang over his sister's shoulder.

"It's over," the watertribe boy said, "you did it." Sokka dropped the sword he had carried into the room onto the ground, the clanking of steel made Aang flinch. Sokka looked at the weapon; his own sword made from the meteor was long gone, lost to the confusion of the time. While he was exhausted, the warrior refused to let his guard down enough to join his friends on the floor of the throne room.

"Where's Toph and Zuko?" he finally asked. As if to answer his question, Toph ran into the room, her armor disheveled as she skidded to a halt. Cursing the fancy, slippery flooring of the palace under her breath, she alerted them to one more, _tiny _problem.

"Azula!" Sokka exclaimed. Aang sat up and got to his feet.

"Where is she?" he demanded. Katara rose as well.

"Zuko's handling it," Toph explained, "down the hall." Aang sprinted from the room before Katara could call out to him to wait. Toph sighed and ran after him, her bare feet slapping against the floor as she ran, leading the water tribe siblings to confront the action.

Aang skidded to a halt in the threshold of a side room off the main hallway and paused. Zuko held Azula up to the wall, pressing her armor against the wall making escape impossible. Azula noted Aang's entrance with her same cool composure, not even flinching. Zuko watched his sister's eyes flick to Aang for only one second before returning to focus on him. Katara, Sokka, and Toph appeared in the doorway seconds later.

"Zuko," Sokka shouted without thinking, "we've done it. The Fire Lord's been defeated!-" he noticed the position the prince was in and shut his mouth.

"Is that so Zuzu?" smiled Azula. Zuko ground his teeth together at the mention of the hated childhood nickname Azula had given him. She grinned and watched as Zuko pondered over how to continue. She doubted her brother had it in him to kill her, but she did not extend that thought to the others in the room. Zuko took a deep breath and let go of Azula. She looked at him with slight surprise as her feet hit the ground but returned to her stoic expression.

"What are you _doing_?" asked Sokka as he watched Zuko step away from his sister.

"Exactly Zuko, what _are_you doing?" mocked Azula. She made sure to keep Zuko between the avatar and his friends and herself in case one of them made a move. She grinned and silently wished one of them did, just to get Zuko out of the way and have one less person to deal with.

"You defeated him?" asked Zuko, standing so his back was to neither side. Aang nodded; his glider was still extended towards Azula even though it with almost useless. He was ready to hurl a bit of airbending in her direction should she take Zuko's kindness for granted.

An explosion shook the palace, rocking the occupants in the room off balance. Zuko fell to his hands and knees along with the others. Seeing her chance, Azula darted around her brother and towards the door. Just as she neared the threshold, the opening was blocked and Azula hit the surface, falling to the ground. Her golden brown eyes glanced up to see what had gotten in her way.

"Uncle!" smiled Zuko, getting to his feet.

"Uncle," Azula groaned. Iron stepped though the doorway, leading in two armed guards. Zuko recognized their armor from the day Azula almost tricked him onto her ship. The two soldiers stood before Azula, keeping an eye on her while Iroh placed his hand on Aang's shoulder. While the two shared no words between them, a silent conversation had taken place. Aang looked up and smiled, then turned to Zuko. Iroh looked in his direction as well.

"Come Zuko," his uncle said, "we have much to do."

"I'll be right there," Zuko replied, "I need a minute." His uncle nodded and walked from the room. The two guards watched him halt at the door and turned to Azula. She glared back at him, feeling everyone's eyes, aside from Zuko's, on her. She rose with her dignity mostly intact. Turning to her brother, she muttered under her breath,

"You're a coward Zuko," she turned and left the room with the two soldiers flanking her. Zuko had either ignored the comment or had not heard it, and proceeded across the room where he disappeared into the courtyard. The room was silent.

"Did I miss something?" asked Sokka as he scratched his head. Toph shrugged and turned to leave the room.

"Now what?" asked Katara.

"We tell everyone we won," Aang replied, "the world has waited a hundred years for this."

"Suki!" Sokka exclaimed out of the blue, "where is she?"

"She's down the hall," sighed Toph. Sokka ran from the room and Katara put a comforting hand on the earthbender's shoulder. The two girls walked from the room as Aang jumped from the window, his torn glider above him as he struggled to take to the air. Using more airbending then he was used to, he had little time to survey the damage down to the palace, but he did have time to note that the entire south wing had been decimated. Fire in town illuminated small rebellions of townspeople who had already learned the fate of their nation. In each burning structure, Aang saw remnants of the comet's power, the comet that would have allowed the fire nation to win the war. Instead it had led to its ultimate demise. The Fire Lord was not the only one who discovered he could use the comet's power.

As the fireball had appeared in the sky, the Fire Lord had been in the middle of his battle with Aang. No matter what element he battled with, no matter how much force he threw at him, Aang's attacks never hit hard enough to gain the upper hand in the fight. As the window allowed the comet's light to enter the room, revealing it had finally decided to come, the Fire Lord chose his own fate by turning away his back to Aang for just a moment to try and take control of the comet's massive power, leaving Aang his opportunity.

The avatar glanced down and landed in the courtyard where Appa lay on his side. One of his six furry legs was scorched, his fur singed black and most of it had burned away. Aang put his hand on Appa's nose; the creature opened his large eyes and emitted a soft moan.

"Don't worry buddy," Aang said, trying to keep his composure," Katara will heal you and you'll get better." Appa gave a gentle lowing sound and rolled onto his belly so Aang could pull off the saddle and armor. As he did he noticed Iroh in a room on the second story of the palace. With the saddle freed, Aang leaped into the air and flew with his damaged glider to the room. Perching on the window sill, Aang waited for the Fire Lord's brother to notice him.

Iroh turned to grab something off the table and glanced over at the avatar. He waved him in; Aang leaped from the window.

"We've won, what do I do now?" Aang asked somewhat timidly. Iroh turned to him with a sad, solemn face.

"Let the world know what you've done," Iroh declared gently, "but don't let your enemy decide the terms at the meeting." Aang raised an eyebrow and then understood what the retired general meant.

"But you're not the enemy," Aang stated, "and neither is Zuko!"

"But the rest of the world doesn't know that," Iroh sighed, "and I doubt that they'd believe it even if _you _told them." He pointed at Aang for emphasis. "I fear they're out for blood." Aang watched him leave the room and felt the breeze from the window float over him.

--

"First we'll have to pull back all the fire nation soldiers. We'll probably have to do something with the generals though. All weapon and machine production needs to be stopped. And then the whole matter of Azula needs to be handled," Sokka said aloud as he paced. He turned to Momo who sat placidly on the desk, batting at his tail, "are you getting all this?" Momo jumped up and hissed at the blue eyed boy, then leaped onto the bookshelf.

"I've got it," Toph smiled in mock seriousness.

"Thank you Toph," Sokka replied, he paused and turned to see her lying on the floor relaxing, "why must you do that?"

"Army, weapons, Azula," Suki's voice recited, "anything else?" Sokka turned and watched as Suki held up a piece of parchment with the start of his list.

The door flew open as Aang entered. He strode over to Sokka and sat down in the chair the boy had just used a moment ago.

"Now what Sokka?" Aang asked.

"We have to hold a meeting to decide what happens to the fire nation," Sokka explained, "since they've caused everyone damage, it would be fair to let everyone decide the punishment."

"It took him half an hour to decide that," Toph laughed, "you should hear the letter he started writing."

"You have letters?" Aang brightened, "who are you sending them to?"

"The leaders of all the nations," Suki explained, "they just need to be sent by messenger hawk."

"I'll do it!" Aang volunteered. He grabbed a handful of sealed scrolls and disappeared from the room. In a moment he reappeared in the doorway and asked, "where are the messenger hawks?"

--

Zuko paced the back room attached to the war meeting room. His uncle sat with him, calmly drinking a cup of jasmine tea. He offered a cup to Zuko, but the boy declined. He pressed his ear to the door again, hoping to hear what they had decided.

Sokka's notes, once the hand writing had been deciphered, had sent the highest standing people of each nation hurrying to the fire nation capital. While Katara had questioned her brother's judgment before, she truly wondered if any thoughts had come to him while addressing the letters. King Bumi, freed from his coffin prison, was as crazy as ever. The bear loving king of Ba Sing Se sat next to him, Bosco sandwiched between them, as if he could help. Sokka almost felt sorry for the poor creature -_almost_. Among them were assorted nobles Toph had mentioned. Representing the water tribes were princess Yue's father, who gave Sokka a nod as he entered the room, along with the watertribe sibling's father, Hakoda. Master Paku and some high standing waterbenders had joined as well. The air nomads had only one representative, Aang, who was attempting to run the meeting. Zuko and Iroh had been escorted to the back room earlier by a very stone faced Sokka.

Aang's first order of business was restoring balance to the world. He had heard so many people tell him he had to do it, but when it came time to follow through, Roku's wisdom was absent. The others of the group had their own opinions about it.

"Destroy them all," was one suggestion.

"Burn this city to the ground," came another idea.

"Make these people rebuild our towns," suggested another.

"Let us run their government to keep the peace." After everyone had added their opinion, Aang stepped in with his own ideas.

"We can't take the fire nation of the map," he announced, "they've already tipped the balance."

"I will not stand for this if they aren't punished for the war they've started," one of the earth kingdom nobles said as he rose to his feet. His neighbor pulled on his sleeve and persuaded him back into his seat.

"Their armies destroyed our cities," someone said. Sokka looked up.

"What if we had the Fire nation pay for and rebuild the places they've destroyed?" he suggested. A murmur shifted through the room.

"What about the places they can't rebuild?" questioned Yue's father, "or the amount of people they've killed?"

"They could pay compensation?" Sokka offered, unsure at whether they would buy the idea. The murmuring continued until the Earth king spoke up.

"What about the armies?" he questioned, "they are still occupying Ba Sing Se. I doubt they will leave without being defeated or hearing from the Fire Lord to return."

"Yes, about the Fire Lord," Hakoda interrupted, he turned to Aang, "he is dead, correct?" Aang nodded.

"Who's the Fire Lord now?" asked Master Paku.

"We should take the title," exclaimed an earth nobleman.

"I guess Prince Zuko would be the new Fire Lord," Aang said.

"Kill him off as well," ordered another man.

"No," Aang stated forcefully, "we can trust Zuko."

"But he's the son of the Fire Lord," one of the waterbenders argued, "they're all the same." A strong mumblings of the agreement went down the table.

"Would you listen to yourselves," Katara chastised, making her voice heard for the first time, "you're acting just like the people you said you hated." The gathered members were silent for a moment. Sokka looked to them.

"I think we should let Prince Zuko become Fire Lord," he stated, "he's done so much to help accomplish what we've achieved." The people grumbled but agreed, still voicing their concerns.

"What if he turns on us?" asked one of the waterbenders.

"The world can't handle another war," another man sighed.

"It won't have to," Aang promised, "this will work."

"Just to be safe, I suggest we select a group of people, say two from each nation to keep the Fire Lord in check." The gang was silent as the room chorused its agreement over the new idea. Hakoda turned to his two children.

"If he'll do the job you say he will, then those people will never need to act," he reassured them. Sokka nodded in understanding.

"So Zuko will become Fire Lord with this group of people keeping watch over what he does to keep another war from starting," Aang repeated. The group nodded.

"I doubt a group of um -six- people can stop a war from breaking out," one of the men in green stated. He leaned back on his chair with his arms folded across his chest.

"And what would you suggest to keep the peace?" asked Hakoda, leaning over the table slightly.

"They can't watch his every move, and I doubt he'd seek their assistance on anything," the man explained, "we need a stronger bond then a council can offer, something more personal."

"Like a marriage," snorted Bumi.

"Exactly," the man said, hitting the table with his fist.

"We don't have the right-"Sokka started to say.

"We have every right to keep the fire nation from dreaming of another war," one of the waterbenders said, "and if telling the new Fire Lord who he'll marry is a way, then we should take it."

"I don't see how a wedding will stop a war," Toph interjected.

"Because the bride won't be fire nation," the man explained, "she would never allow an attack on her people."

"The prince wouldn't accept this," muttered one the earthbenders.

"He'll have to," the waterbender said, "the only question now is, _whom_?"

"But the earth kingdom has no princesses," the earth king said. He turned to Bumi who nodded in agreement.

"And neither do the water tribes," Master Paku sad after a pause. Yue's father avoided the master waterbender's eyes as he stayed silent.

"There must be some girl who is of age and from an important family," mumbled one of the earth kingdom nobles. Silence filled the meeting room until King Bumi drew everyone's attention to himself.

"What about your friend Aang," he said pointing a bejeweled hand at Katara.

"Me?" Katara panicked, "no, I couldn't- I'm not-" Toph burst out laughing as she felt Katara's stress next to her.

"Katara can't marry Zuko!" Sokka stuttered searching for a loose end with the idea, "she's not royalty. Right dad?" Hakoda, still caught up in the idea that his daughter would have to marry the new Fire Lord, paused before he attempted to answer. Yue's father spoke up in his place.

"Technically, Katara is in the same position my daughter was," he spoke, "the daughter of the leader southern watertribe _and_a master waterbender at that, would be equivalent, since no actual princesses exist."

"What about Toph?" begged Katara, "her family's a high ranking earth kingdom name."

"Sorry Sugar Queen," smiled Toph, "I'm not _of age._" The earthbender felt sorry for her friend as she tried to talk her way out of it. Aang sat in stunned silence; he now knew how Sokka had felt when he could not explain the invasion plan properly. All he had to do was tell them it was a stupid idea and think of another, but the meeting had gotten away from him, out of his control. Mastering the elements was nothing compared to this.

In an hour's time, the meeting was concluded; the fate of the fire nation resided in the written pact in Aang's hands. During the meeting he had come up with no other solutions to keep Katara from being forced into a political marriage to save the world. The waterbender herself had exhausted every argument she could think of, only to be proved wrong or shot down.

Aang opened the door separating the members of the meeting from Zuko and Iroh. The prince stopped pacing and looked to them. The whole group had gathered in the doorway to watch the two men sign the paper and have the avatar finish with his own signature. Katara gloomily watched from her seat; Toph remained beside her, she could feel the action from there, there was no need to be closer.

Aang handed the scroll to Zuko who laid it out on the table, where the tea had been placed only moments before, for his uncle to read it with him. Iroh nodded absentmindedly as if expecting most of the items on the list. Once he read the marriage proposal, he raised his eyebrows and an amused smile came to his old face. He felt his nephew tense as he read the document. Zuko turned to look at the group, disbelief in his eyes. Aang and Sokka had both dropped their eyes to look at the floor when they saw him look up. He was met with cold stares from the other members. He noticed Katara was not among them. She and Toph were still seated in the main room. He caught a look of disdain from her direction and scowled. His uncle had explained to him that under the risk of igniting another war, they had to agree to the _entire_proposal. The prince clenched his hands into fists as he thought about what they had demanded. They had allowed him to take the throne as Fire Lord, but then he had to immediately remove all troops everywhere they occupied outside the Fire Nation under their orders. All the war machines and balloons had to be disassembled and destroyed. The soldiers were to head home, and the standing army could number no more than a hundred persons. War ships had to be disarmed to avoid being sunk. The next section explained as to how a small group of persons would oversee every action the Fire Lord proposed and approved it before it could be put to effect. The group would consist of two members from the watertribe, two members from the earth kingdom, and what seemed surprising to both Iroh and Zuko was that they would allow two fire nation people as well. The persons had yet to be decided, according to the document.

Zuko did not mind the military suspension; instead, as he signed his name, he wondered how Katara had let herself be talked into this marriage. They had finally started getting along towards the end of their time together helping Aang, but he had known the avatar had a crush on her. How the boy had let this happen was as much as a mystery as to why Katara had let it happen. Iroh signed his name under his nephew's and passed the brush and ink to Aang. The avatar paused for a second, all eyes in the room on him. He wrote his name, sealing the document. The group nodded and slowly left the room, filing back outside. The people finally felt a sense of peace that the world could return to a place without war. The room emptied, except for Iroh, Zuko, Katara, and Toph. The earthbender had gotten to her feet and was trying to coax Katara from her chair. Iroh moved to them and put a gentle hand on the blind girl's shoulder, silently telling her to come with him and leave Katara to her thoughts. Zuko turned and stared at the back of her head as he heard his uncle close the door.

"So," he sighed, breaking the silence, "how'd you get yourself into this?"

"You probably think it's funny," Katara snapped.

"Do _you _think it's funny?" Zuko asked. He turned away from her and crossed his arms over his chest. He felt his anger rising but pushed it back, taking deep, calming breathes. Katara refused to answer; instead she mirrored his position and turned away. They sat in silence until the door was thrown open.

"Katara come on!" came Aang's voice; his cheery attitude seemed to have returned to him, "I've got to show you something!" Katara stood and followed him from the room, leaving Zuko alone. The boy sighed and rested his head in his hands, staring at the wall.

--

Toph made her way across the palace. Maids and other servants hurried by, but made sure to give her a wide berth. In the month since Aang had defeated the Fire Lord, things, on the surface at least, had seemed to fall into place. The palace had been the gang's home while they remained in the Fire Nation. Aang was almost never there, he had his work cut out for him to pick out the council members. Sokka and Suki had made a habit of walking the palace gardens when they were free. Toph watched them -through her earthbending- her jealousy slowly fading with each passing day. Suki had become closer to her then she could have previously believed. Today though, Toph had other business to attend to without thinking of the two lovebirds as they stopped by a garden of sweet smelling flowers in the courtyard.

Pushing open one of the doors in the hallway, Toph found herself immersed in a frenzy of activity. Maids scurried about carrying fabrics and already designed clothing. She found a familiar presence in the center of the turmoil. Katara leaned her head on her hand as she nodded absentmindedly at the fabrics presented to her. She noticed Toph enter the room and waved away the maids, happy for a distraction.

"Toph," smiled Katara. She jumped to her feet, fixed her skirt and rushed over to her friend. The two girls had long since begun wearing their outfits more suited to the climate in the Fire Nation, in part because they had no other clothing, but also the weather had been unbearably hot. Katara led her to the door and pulled her down the hall she just come through.

"Aren't you too busy to go for a walk?" questioned Toph, a smile on her face. Katara rolled her blue eyes.

"I'm sick of all these wedding preparations," Katara sighed, "it's bad enough I'm getting married, but now I have to pick out colors and approve dresses for the wedding I don't even want to take place."

"I think you're making too big a deal out of this," Toph laughed, "how hard can pointing at a dress and saying 'that one' be?"

"You try it sometime," Katara grinned, her stress ebbing slowly away. They paused at the gardens, a lone tree stood guard over a small pond.

"I haven't seen this courtyard," Katara stated, she saw the water as a turtle duck climbed out of the pool.

"Have you even left that room?" asked Toph, "it's been three weeks since the meeting."

"I've gone for walks," Katara said defensively, "and I've had tea with Zuko's uncle a few times."

"Have you spent time with Zuko?" asked Toph. She felt Katara tense at the subject of her fiancée.

"Not at all," Katara stated frankly, "I've been avoiding him." She stepped closer to the water and lazily bent some the liquid up into her hands. Katara closed her blue eyes and slid through some simpler moves. She had forgotten how calming it could be to just waterbend for no reason. The last time she had to do anything was to heal Appa after the battle almost a month ago. The bison had since recovered, and his fur had almost all the way grown back in.

Katara dropped the water back into the pond and slipped her shoes off. There was barely any use for them in the palace unless she walked to oversee construction on the southern wing, something Toph had taken to heart. The earthbender had since 'lost' her shoes and refused to have a new pair made for her. Katara looked to her friend and patted the ground next to her invitingly as she dipped her bare feet into the cool water. Toph took a seat next to her friend, but she set her feet flat against the ground, hugging her knees. She listened as Katara gently kicked her legs, splashing the water into the air.

"So, "Toph smiled, "what color is _my _dress?" Katara turned and sent a wave of water into her face, laughter soon following as they threw playful insults at each other.

--

"I shouldn't have asked," Toph sighed as she stood surrounded by three maids a week later. The women had struggled with the girl every step of the way. Toph had experience with servants, but none as demanding as these. They were worse than the ones her parents had that she had grown up with. Katara waved them aside and adjusted the fabric of the dress on Toph's shoulders. With bowed heads several of the servants presented Katara with an assortment of jewelry and ribbons. Picking matching pieces, Katara handed them to Toph.

"Here," Katara said, her mind lost in thought. Suki poked her head into the room and smiled.

"Wow, Toph, you look great!" Suki complimented.

"I'll have to take your word for it," Toph grinned. The blind girl pulled at the skirt, lifting it as if she was going to walk down stairs. Both Suki and Toph wore the same style dress; each one was forest green, the fabric coming to the floor. They were fitted around the waist and held up with a halter style tie. Suki turned to Katara, careful on how she praised her question.

"When are you going to put on your dress?" she voiced. Katara looked down at her underwear. She had yet to change since she had come from her bath.

"I'll have to soon," Katara said, glancing out the window at the sun, "it's supposed to start at midday.

"Did you want help?" Suki offered. Katara looked to the mirror as Suki placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Katara, I know this can't be easy for you, but we'll be there for you, ok?"

"Thanks Suki," Katara said. She gave her a small smile and watched them leave, hopefully to hurry Aang and Sokka into their outfits and be ready. Katara nodded to the three maids who busied themselves fetching the wedding dress and accessories.

--

Footsteps echoed down an empty hallway. Doors to bedrooms flanked both sides of the corridor every hundred strides. Glancing at a passing window up to the sun, Zuko guessed he had only an hour's worth of time until the wedding. He rounded a corner and spotted the two guards that his uncle had posted at the door nearby. Zuko motioned them aside and walked into the room. The bedroom appeared empty at first glance, until Zuko saw a shadow shift to his right.

"I'm not in the mood Uncle," the figure hissed.

"Azula," Zuko said, "come here," he demanded, then his voice softened, "I need to talk to you." Azula appeared from the darkness of her room, pulling open the closed curtain as she walked towards her brother. Unlit candles flared to life as she placed her hand to them, filling the room with light. Zuko was force blink a few times before he could see his sister clearly.

"Why are you here?" asked Azula, her golden brown eyes searched for answers Zuko had yet to give. She continued in a mocking tone, "today's your big day, the day you'll become nothing more than a puppet ruler." She turned to examine her nails the candle light.

"Azula," Zuko sighed, "you have nothing to gain by holding onto father's beliefs." Azula stared her brother down; the siblings' eyes locked into a heated battle.

"You're a traitor Zuko," Azula hissed.

"You'll be a traitor if you don't stop living in the past. The Fire Nation lost, but I have a chance to fix the mistakes that father made. I don't expect you to apologize, because I know you won't. All I'm asking for is for us to be on the same side." Azula thought for a moment as she stared at one of candles on a nearby table. She reached out to one of the candles and lifted the flame onto her fingertip. She watched the flame dance for a moment before extinguishing it with her thumb. One of her eyebrows raised as a smile came to her face.

"Sure Zuzu," she smiled, "as long as I can go to your wedding." Zuko seemed more surprised that his sister had actually agreed to what he had asked then to her request.

"Good," Zuko stated, regaining his composure, "here." He produced a small, box sized package and handed it to Azula. She looked to the simple wrapped item and then back at Zuko.

"What is this?" she questioned. She tugged at the string bidding the paper together.

"Your dress," Zuko said, he turned and walked to the door, "the guards will escort you there. You'd better not try anything Azula, there'll be many master benders attending." The door closed as Zuko left the room to finish getting changed into his full attire.

Azula set the wrapped package on her bed and pulled the tie free of the wrapping. The simple paper fell away to reveal a red dress. What the Fire Nation princess was unaware of as she slipped it on was that it was the exact design as the dresses Toph and Suki had on, only in red instead of green. Azula stood in front of her mirror and looked at herself, studying the dress. It fit well enough, and the color suited her tastes perfectly. She rolled her eyes trying to picture herself in any other color. Shuddering at the thought of wearing blue or green –again-, the princess freed her hair from its tight bun and let it hang down her back. She was used to doing things on her own ever since she had sent to hunt down her brother and uncle but not back at home. Azula had yet to see a single servant or maid. She was sure her uncle had sent orders to have them stay clear of her room. Trying the front pieces of her hair atop her head, she replaced the Fire Nation emblem and smiled at her work. She moved towards her door and waited for what Zuko had referred to as 'her escort'.

--

The largest palace garden had been transformed days earlier into a place fit for a royal wedding. Seating had been set up so the many visors, of each nation, could watch the union that would hopefully bring about peace. As the guests began to fill in the seats, Toph, Suki, Sokka, and Aang met under one of the trees. Sokka and Aang had long since been escorted by the girls down to the garden. Sokka and Aang were each wearing their nation's colors, blue and yellowy orange, respectively, and were dressed in the best clothing the town's tailors could offer. Not only had the news of the wedding brought talks of peace around the world, but more locally it had boosted the failing economy which had survived on the production of war materials. Every item needed to decorate had to be bought locally, which seemed to calm the local's anger at the fact that the bride was not from the Fire Nation. They had yet to learn about the paper Zuko had signed that had bound his fate, something he would make sure that never happened. Almost every business had improved through the purchase of flowers, the creation of the dresses, and the buying of the gifts for the _seemingly_ happy bride and groom. They only appeared happy because they had yet to see the other in over a week.

Aang looked to the sky; judging by the sun, the ceremony was to start soon. The seats were filling up with guests faster as the time drew closer to the start of the wedding, each guest wearing their nation's colors. While the first bunch of guests had chosen to seat themselves far from anyone of a different nationality them themselves, as seating grew more scarce, watertribe' men found them seated next to fire nation nobles who in turn discovered an earth kingdom citizen on their other side.

Sokka noticed most of the people in red were admirals or generals and their families that Zuko had ordered home within the month. While many were still sailing back, a good number had made it in time to watch their new Fire Lord be married.

"Look who's coming," Toph announced. Her bare feet were hidden under the long green dress, so she felt the two girl's vibrations as they approached. Suki's eyes narrowed while Sokka panicked as they saw who Toph was referring to. Dressed in their own finery, Ty Lee and Mai casually made their way over to the group. Ty Lee waggled her fingers at Sokka and smiled cheerfully at the rest of them. Sokka remembered Mai from the prison break, thinking back to how Zuko had mentioned she had been his girlfriend.

"Why is everyone so quite?" asked Ty Lee, "weddings are so fun!" Her bubbly nature seemed not to have been damaged by the sentence Azula had given her and Mai. Aang recalled Zuko sending countless messenger hawks out to locate the two girls, but mostly to discover where Mai was.

"You're boring me," Mai finally stated, "Come on Ty Lee, let's sit down."

"It was nice seeing you," Ty Lee called as Mai pulled her away. The two girls walked back and sat amongst a group of other Fire Nation citizens. Mai's father was seated a few people down, watching the interaction with confusion on his face.

The sun was only inches from being in position to start the ceremony when another set of people joined the crowd. Iroh took his seat in the very front; he was dressed to impress in red and gold. Sokka noticed two guards step aside and remain at the door, making room for a woman in red to make her way towards the front. The group watched as she got closer. At first she seemed to pay them no heed, her golden eyes searching the crowd. Many of the fire nation admirals and other military officers bowed their heads as she passed. Azula sure to note which ones did not. Amongst these, she made sure to send an evil smile at Chan, the boy who had held the party on Ember Island. His jaw dropped as he watched her pass. Azula quickened her step and made her way to the group in the front. She felt Iroh's eyes on her back as she spoke to them.

"It's going to start soon," she said, "you'd better get in position."

"Azula, if you try-" Sokka started to say, his blue eyes narrowed.

"That's no way to talk to your future sister-law," Azula said, her voice held a tone of feigned hurt. She was enjoying every minute of this. Azula had almost forgotten how great it was to play with people's emotions. Being confined to her room for that month had done little to dampen her skills as a '_people person_'.

Zuko, dressed in his black and red outfit, appeared, signaling the start of the ceremony and walked to where the vows would take place. A fire sage and one of the men from the northern watertribe waited down the aisle. Both cultures felt that all customs had to be conformed to make the marriage a legitimate pact between their nations. Zuko stood at the front of the crowd, waiting. Never before had he been so nervous. He was going to be the Fire Lord; unofficially, he already was, but the title would really be his today.

The sun was directly overhead; Aang and Sokka had moved to Zuko's left side a few feet away while Toph, Suki, and Azula waited further away to his right. Music sounded from the surrounding hallways and the guests turned towards the door. Katara appeared from within the palace. As she stepped into the sunlight her white dress sparkled. Pieces of blue material added to the dress, showing her true colors and matching her blue eyes. She met her father at the base of the steps and Hakoda walked her down the center aisle. A gentle breeze ruffled her hair which she had left down for the occasion, except for a small bun in the back. Every step she took brought her closer to Zuko, closer to her future life. She tried to keep a smile on her face, hoping no one could tell it was forced. She glanced up at Zuko, noticing the others standing nearby as part of the bridal party. Slightly shocked, Katara noticed Azula standing beside Suki. The princess' red dress stood in contrast to Suki and Toph's green ones, but it completed the pattern of having every color present. Katara ignored Azula's piercing gaze and amused smile and stepped beside Zuko. Hakoda released her arm, gave her a strong smile, and took his seat next to Iroh. Both waterbender and firebender refused to look at each other, instead they both turned to the two men conducting the wedding and the ceremony began.

The sun was nearing the horizon as the final vows were exchanged. Katara felt her legs begin to go stiff under her dress. When she had first been told that the wedding would start at noon and then the reception would begin at moonrise, the amount of time between the two had not seemed so long. As she watched shadows form on the ground, the two men directing the wedding grew silent.

"You may kiss the bride," nodded the water tribesman. Both Zuko and Katara paled at the thought. They hesitated, excuses running like wild fire through their minds. _If I pass out I won't have to,_Katara thought; she bit her lip and looked up. Her eyes came to Zuko's nose; behind him she saw Aang's broken expression and the side of Sokka's face as he glanced away. Zuko sighed, as much as he wished for a situation to free him, his honor hinged upon this. He felt Azula's blazing eyes on him and meet them with his own. He understood why she had been _so_adamant on coming as he watched her laughing expression. Neither bride nor groom had the courage to the stop the wedding after the long day of standing before everyone and relented. The kiss was short and somewhat awkward, but ended with cheers from the guests. Azula found herself laughing out loud at her brother's face, even while Suki shot her death glares.

"May I present to you, Fire Lord Zuko," the fire sage announced as he placed the golden crown atop his head that the Fire Lords before him had all worn. The sage continued, "and Lady Katara."

A formal clapping accompanied the pair as they walked down the aisle and into the palace, arm in arm. As soon as the servants shut the doors, Katara pulled her arm free of Zuko's embrace.

"Are all Fire Nation weddings that _long_?" Katara asked, "and when the sun is out at the hottest time of day?"

"They'd normally start at dawn and the reception would last until the sun set," Zuko explained. A pair of servants hurried in to escort the pair away to change into their other clothing. Katara happily let them lead her away to change out of her white dress. Once in the room, she was assisted in pulling off the wedding dress and slipped into a more desirable ocean blue one. Its design was similar to the ones Azula, Suki, and Toph wore, but it had more layers, like waves on the ocean, and it was held up by only a single strap over her right shoulder.

The reception was to take place in one of the dining halls. The guests would have already been told where to go and would have begun their gossiping. Katara and Zuko entered via the main entrance, their silent pact to play their roles of a happy couple fresh on their minds. Brilliant colored dresses and ribbons distracted Katara as she looked around the room. Iroh approached them first, the happy atmosphere of the room increasing by the moment. The old man gave them a knowing smile and placed each of his hands on each their shoulders, on Zuko's right and Katara's left. Zuko met his uncle's eyes, a wordless conversation taking place. Katara watched the exchange and could only guess what was being said.

Aang skirted over as Iroh nodded and walked off. Katara felt his tenseness as he tried to act like nothing had changed between the three of them.

"This place is really pretty when you're not trying to fight your way through it," he mumbled.

"Nice one twinkle toes," Toph laughed as she punched him in the arm.

"Thanks Toph," Aang replied a little shakily, rubbing his bruised bicep. Katara smiled at their antics until a group of six men walked over. Zuko raised an eyebrow as they neared them. All six men inclined their heads to both Katara and Zuko and gave a greeting to Aang.

"Oh right," Aang suddenly remembered, "Zuko, these men have been chosen as the members of the council. There are two from each nation." Zuko was silent as he looked over the group.

"The two earth kingdom men looked to be merchants of a high class while the water tribesmen were less awestruck at the presence of power. Zuko wondered if they had been advisors back home. The fire nation men were two lesser nobles; without the ability to bend, they had advanced as far as they could in the political game. Zuko mused over the possibility of any of the other four men having bending abilities. Silence overtook the group, but the surrounding guests did not seem to take note.

"Um, they had a meeting before this," Aang announced, "and they discussed what they felt were important topics for the future." Aang turned away to hide the red in his cheeks.

"We were discussing the future, not only of the world, but of your family." One of the earth men said. Zuko worked to keep his expression fixed as he remembered they could overrule any of his laws or judgments and could make their own regarding anything within the palace or involving the two of them.

"Would you like to share what you've decided?" Katara questioned. Zuko felt her brace for impact beside him, even though the two had yet to touch since their walk down the aisle.

"We have explained the importance," stated one of the fire nation men, "of securing the future throne." Both Zuko and Katara tensed; they knew where this conversation was headed but neither of them was ready to hear it said out loud.

"Isn't it a little early to think about _that_?" coughed Zuko. Katara folded her hands across her waist, gripped the blue fabric at her hips, and tried to focus on something on the ground.

"This is no longer just to keep the throne," a water tribesman explained, "because your marriage was to keep the peace in the world, the wedding won't be enough for many of the people. They'll want physical proof that you two can work together and are serious." The newlyweds refused to even glance at each other. A smile of amusement came to one of the man's faces from the fire nation before he excused them.

"We'll be enjoying the party then," he said, "good luck _tonight_." Zuko nodded and felt Katara flee into the crowd. His golden eyes watched her go, her blue clothing quickly bending in with the others from her tribe.

"Was that _all_they talked about?" asked Zuko, trying to hide the disgust in his voice as he turned to Aang.

"No," the avatar said, "but I wasn't paying attention to the other things, they were too boring." Zuko laughed as the boy who he had joined up with at the western air temple let his true nature shine through. Aang joined in his laughter.

"Will you be staying here for a while?" asked Zuko.

"No," Aang sighed, "Appa and I are headed to the southern watertribe with Suki, Toph, Sokka, and his father tomorrow."

"Katara will miss you," Zuko said without thinking. Aang's face reddened and he looked away.

"I haven't told her yet," the boy muttered.

"You'd better," Zuko said, "or she'll be mad at _me_!" Aang nodded and walked off to find Katara. Pausing as he watched the avatar walk off to find her, the newly crowned Fire Lord hopped to not need to face Katara if she got mad at him. He had fought her enough to know she was a formidable enemy, even without her water bending.

Katara stopped walking once she had made her way to the door. Looking into the room she noticed the different colors had just stated to mix. Here, as before, red clothed people only kept to themselves, yet now they seemed more mixed. Katara leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Not having a good time?" asked a voice from the curtain to her right. Katara looked to see Azula smiling at her with her all-knowing eyes.

"Don't give me that look," Azula said, "I was only wondering why you weren't enjoying _your own _party.

"You know why," Katara snapped. Azula shrugged, she pushed herself gracefully from the wall and moved to stand face to face with her sister-in-law. She cringed at the thought but regained her composure as their eyes met, distrust present in both pairs.

"What's wrong Katara," Azula smiled mockingly, "nervous about _tonight_?"

"Not at all," Katara said through clenched teeth. Azula gave her an amused smile and laughed to herself as she turned to leave, happy she had finally hit a nerve.

"It has been a most memorable day," Azula laughed. She left the hall, her footsteps echoing down the empty corridor as she disappeared. Katara sighed and closed her blue eyes for a moment. Glancing out a nearby window, Katara noticed the almost full moon. A smile graced her lips as the midnight air wafted into the room. The blinds stirred; the waterbender leaned against the stone railing across the window. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Aang making his way to her.

"Katara," Aang sighed.

"You're leaving tomorrow," Katara replied sadly, she had expected it. She knew he was taking Sokka, Suki, and her father back to the South Pole. Thinking of her home, Katara wondered if she would ever see the small village again. Much would have changed since she had left; Master Paku's students should have rebuilt the village to stand proud once more. She missed Gran Gran most of all since her departure almost a year ago. She smiled to herself, thinking of Sokka taking a leadership role, but she knew that Suki would keep an eye on him to keep him on a straight path.

"Yeah," Aang nodded after a moment of silence, "Zuko wanted to make sure you knew." Katara turned away for a moment.

"When?" she asked.

"At noon," Aang explained. Again, Katara replied with only a nod of understanding. She turned towards him and wrapped her arms around his tiny frame. Aang, momentarily shocked, returned her embrace and gave her a strong smile. The two separated and Katara turned to the crowd. The musician had picked up a cheery tune and the guests seemed eager to dance. The blue eyed waterbender felt a presence at her right; without turning she could tell it was Zuko. She seemed hardly surprised she could recognize his presence behind her without any hint. He nodded to passing couple and offered Katara his arm; it was an empty gesture and they both knew it, but it seemed to please everyone around them. Zuko led Katara into the center of the room with the other gathered people as the music changed again, this time to a more romantic, slower song. The royal couple began the dance, all eyes on them as they followed the music. Katara's hands rested lightly on Zuko's shoulders as they moved. She could feel his fingers on her waist as they twisted and turned. She was surprised to find the music easy to dance to, and even more surprised when after the first song ended some of the older Fire Nation couples joined in. Katara recalled Aang telling them that the kinds in the Fire Nation School he had attended knew nothing about dancing. She noticed that this was not nearly as fun as the dancing Aang and herself had done, but it still held the same feeling. She glanced to her left and saw her brother and Suki dancing alongside of them. Suki's head rested on Sokka's shoulder as they moved back and forth together. The song ended and Zuko bowed out, letting Aang take his place. Under any other circumstances the Fire Lord would never let anyone dance with his wife unless they were related, but since Aang was the avatar _and_a friend of both the bride and groom, the boy was allowed to step in. Katara smiled at him and they stepped to the new beat. At first Katara felt Aang's nervousness inhibit his dancing, but she coaxed him out of it enough that they could enjoy the dance almost as much as at the dance party.

When the song concluded, Katara bent over leaned over to whisper in Aang's ear. Pausing, Aang looked around and saw what she meant. Katara watched the boy make his way over to where Toph stood alone, seemingly watching the dancers. The blue eyed girl knew that behind her placid face the blind child was bored out of her mind. After a second's hesitation he asked her onto the floor. Katara smiled as Toph pulled him though some Earth Kingdom dances to the Fire Nation music.

The dancing continued on, allowing Katara to dance with her father, Iroh, and again with Zuko. As their dance ended, Katara fought to keep her eyes open. Luckily for her, the music ended, signaling the end of the dancing as well as the after-wedding party. Zuko offered his arm once more and led her from the center of the room. The two walked back up the way they had entered through and left the room of departing guests.

The two Fire Nation noblemen noticed the pair's departure.

"Do you think we put enough emphasis on producing an heir tonight?" asked the shorter of the two men.

"We'll never be able to emphasis it enough. The two of them seem to have a mutual hatred for each other and the subject could tear their relationship apart," explained the other as he pulled on his mustache.

"Hmm," sighed the first. He watched the doors close and nodded the second man. They joined the crowd of guests and headed into the night.

Pulling away from Zuko as the door shut them away from the others, Katara picked at her blue dress and she turned her back to him. They were led down the wide hallway, away from the dining hall and down lavishly decorated corridors. At the end of the hall, two solemn faced servants held a set of double doors open for them.

An extravagant room awaited their entrance. Zuko realized his uncle had been busy to make the room look so inviting. He had never been in this room before; it might have been the only place that neither he nor his sister had dared to step even a foot inside. Memories aside, the giant bed looked warm and comfortable, even on a summer night like the one surrounding them. A small door, parted from the room by a lightly translucent curtain, was the threshold to the large bathroom with all the most modern conveniences the Fire Nation could offer.

Katara took a step inside the room and slipped off her shoes. Crossing the space in slow steps, she pushed open the closed window and glanced outside. The moon illuminated her face from above as she turned to Zuko.

"Does the Fire Nation have that tradition as well?" asked Katara. All emotion was gone from her voice; it was as if she had bottled it all up inside. Zuko saw her blue eyes lazily focus on the bed and understood what she was referring to. He nodded and wrapped a hand around the bed post, averting his eyes from her moon bathed figured. Katara acknowledged his nod before glancing back to the moon for strength once more and closing her blue eyes tights, moving away from the window and out of the moonlight.

--

Katara bit her lip and tried to focus on her breathing. Tears streamed from her eyes and she gripped the bedding under her body. She wished Toph or Suki could have been here with her. She knew they would be no help, but just having someone with her would have made it more bearable. She knew that Suki was in the South Pole with Sokka and her father. Toph had accompanied Aang on his trip to drop the three of them off, but she was unaware if the girl had stayed or left. Because Toph would be unable to see on the ice and snow at the Southern Water Tribe village, she guessed that the girl would have left with Aang to go elsewhere. To where, Katara was unsure. Suki's letter had left Toph's decisions out. Katara only knew that Sokka had asked Suki to marry him and they would have had the wedding by the time the letter got to her in the Fire Nation. Sokka's messenger hawk, Hawky, had memorized the way from the pole to the palace from his numerous trips between the Katara to Suki and Sokka as they exchanged letters.

Her thoughts were ripped to the present as another wave of pain coursed through her body. She was surrounded by maids and midwives. Almost nine months had passed since her wedding with Zuko. The fact that she had become pregnant from just that one night of their wedding was a surprise to the both of them, but Katara was pleased she would not have to relive it. It had been the most awkward moment of her life, easily pushing the wedding kiss into second. Since then though, they had played their roles well. Zuko took over ruling the Fire Nation, constantly turning to his uncle for advice. Katara, once everyone discovered she was with a child, had shut herself up in the library. Iroh seemed to be the only link between them. Katara enjoyed the old man's company and his taste in tea as well.

Another spasm of pain coursed through Katara's body. With another deep breath, she heard a delighted gasp of the midwife assisting her and a high squeal of her newborn child. Katara forgot about her breathing and collapsed into the pillows propping her up on the bed. Her blue eyes slowly opened, blinking once or twice, and then rested on the small bundle of red in one of the lady's arms. The woman handed the child to Katara, who tenderly cradled her in her arms.

"Congratulations Milady," the woman smiled, "a beautiful baby girl. She seems to be healthy and strong. I will leave you now to inform her father." Katara watched her leave, noticing her assistants leaving the area clear for when the Fire Lord arrived.

Katara took the chance to gaze at the child in her arms. Her eyes were closed and she had stopped crying. Katara felt her body moving under the red blanket and thought back to the babies she had helped deliver before the war had ended. Each one of those baby's hands and feet had been so tiny; they were so helpless and dependant on their parents to do everything for them. Under the blanket, she felt her daughter wriggling, as if she was trying to snuggle deeper into the blanket that Katara held to her chest. Smiling to herself, the master waterbender silently promised to herself that she would protect this child, her child, from any dangers that arose from being a princess of the Fire Nation; she would not stand for anyone to harm her.

An almost silent knock sounded at the door. Katara turned and smiled as Iroh pushed open the door to the room. Zuko followed his uncle silently, his golden eyes meeting Katara's for only a moment before turning to the baby in her arms, his features softened slightly. Iroh sat down in the stool beside the bed and Katara handed the sleeping child to him as he extended his open hands to her. He took her up in experienced arms and watched the child continue to dream. The dragon of the west had delayed his move back to Ba Sing Se just to met his grandniece. He had told them his tea shop could wait another few months when he had heard the news. Zuko raised his eyebrows at the baby, surprised at how small and fragile she was. Zuko wondered for a moment how she would ever get any bigger and how anyone could be that small when they were born.

"What will her name be?" Iroh asked as he placed the baby back in her mother's arms.

"Kasumi," Katara replied, "her name will be Kasumi." She watched the baby lovingly as she said her name over and over in her mind. She felt Zuko's golden eyes rest on her as she gently rocked the blanket back and forth.

* * *

Yay! First chapter done! Kasumi _is _a Japanese name, but I'm bad at making up my own names for characters, so I'll stick to the ones I find on baby names .com ;) I've continued the unofficial tradition that the girls of Katara's family have K names! Kana, Kya, Katara, and now Kasumi… I didn't notice until I named her...

I've pretty much covered all the topics that usually occur in a post-war Zutara in one chapter, so now the story can move on… (More than 10,000 words, I'm so happy!) **Remember to review and tell me what you think of it so far! ...**


	2. An Heir to the Throne

**I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender**…

* * *

Chapter 2) _An Heir to the Throne_

Katara looked up from her book as she relaxed in a plush chair. The window she leaned on and where her book rested overlooked one of the largest courtyards in the entire palace. It was second only the one where the wedding was held. Shouts and laughter echoed into the room where Katara sat from outside where a small group of six children played. Katara smoothed her blue dress over her legs as she shifted into a more comfortable sitting position to continue reading. Glancing outside for a quick moment, Katara spotted her five-year-old daughter Kasumi playing tag with the other five children her age. Their class had just let out for the day, so the six of them frolicked in the garden until the children's parents came to get them. The others were all children of some of the nobles who had given Zuko their full support in his position and his new ideas on how to fix what had been done to the world under his father. Of course, none of them believed they had been wrong, the Fire Nation could _never_ be wrong; they were most likely trying to brownnose their way into more power through Zuko. He was completely aware of their attempts, so nothing would come from them.

The Fire Lord had decided that instead of being taught privately, Kasumi would be enrolled in small group classes. Although the only thing the class was learning was counting and numbers, the children were taught in one of the unused rooms Katara had set aside for them. Though _most_ of the damage to the capital had been repaired in the five years since the comet's arrival, the Fire Nation Academy had yet to be rebuilt and properly staffed. The resources to rebuild anything but the basics had been sent to fix the Earth Kingdom's losses. While education was important, the council felt the damage the Fire Nation's armies had inflicted upon the Earth Kingdom was of much greater significance to the betterment of the world. Even though Katara and Zuko generally tried to avoid each other, Katara had voiced her opinion to him and the six council men about holding classes at the palace in one of the unused rooms. Zuko agreed, after stating he did not want Kasumi to have private lessons to Katara, and the issue was settled. The meeting had then moved onto more _worldly_ affairs.

Katara heard a splash in the small turtle duck pond and twisted her head to see what had occurred. The water only came to her thighs, but that was at most, chest high for any of the playing children who might have happened to slip into it. Her blue eyes saw five children standing around the edge of the pool, looking into it. The three girls and two boys looked almost identical from the back, each dressed in his or her red outfit that they were required to wear to each session by their teacher. Katara closed her book and hurried from the room. She ran out the closest door she could find and sprinted over the grass.

"What happened?" she called. The five kids turned at the sound of her voice and each bowed their heads quickly at her presence. She looked at the faces of the children, each one with their black hair and brown eyes, searching. Katara paused and pushed through the line to peer into the pool. A pair of tearful golden eyes gazed back at her as the small girl struggled to pull herself back onto the grass. Katara, ignoring the gasps from the children behind her, took a breath, and lifted the water around her daughter in the pool into the air and over the grass. She bent the water back into the pool, leaving Kasumi to hurry into her mother's arms.

"Kasumi," Katara asked, "what happened?" Her daughter refused to look at her mother's face. Katara stared at her daughter's black hair; it was soaked, along with her red outfit, yet her tears were still visible on her face. Katara wrapped her arms around Kasumi and hugged her daughter close as she was gently pulled to the ground. Katara knelt with her before the group of children and looked at them eye to eye.

"What happened?" she asked again, "why was Kasumi in the pond?" One of the girls clasped her hands behind her back and swayed back and forth as she answered the question.

"I pushed her," she smiled. Katara hesitated a moment as she stared dumbfounded at the child. Before she could respond, she saw the door open out of the corner of her eye and quickly got to her feet. A servant held the door open for the five children's mothers, each of whom happily watched as their children rushed over to their sides. Katara took her daughter's hand but only had to walk a few feet to meet with the other women. They had crossed to garden to give their greetings, which, in the five years time Katara had lived here, still seemed strange. The woman whose daughter who had pushed Kasumi into the water paused as Katara held her back from leaving with the others.

"Yes, Lady Katara," she smiled. The lady's eyes focused on the large wet splotch on Katara's _blue_ dress where Kasumi had rested her head and Katara knew she was laughing to herself; her voice held the same tone of hatred and disgust that all the nobles expressed towards Katara when Zuko was not around.

"It would appear that your daughter admitted to pushing Kasumi into the koi pond," Katara stated. Kasumi squeezed her mother's hand as she slid behind her.

"Maybe my daughter was just trying to tell her something," the lady said, her voice held fake sweetness as she spoke. Katara narrowed her blue eyes protectively.

"And that would be?" Katara asked aggressively. Kasumi looked to the ground when she felt her classmate's eyes on her. The little girl stood by herself, unlike Kasumi who hid behind her mother, her brown eyes held the '_I'm all that'_ look as she watched Kasumi.

"Probably nothing of course, most likely a child's petty fight over something irrelevant," the woman said, deftly ending the conversation and turning on her heel with her daughter in tow. Katara glared daggers at her back. She knew what the woman had meant. No one had actually said it to her face; she sighed, but who would dare to? She was royalty now, and if anyone cared about their position they would not come outright and say anything to her face, everything was done through gossip. She knew the woman had wanted to tell her that she was not fit to be here, not fit to be the Fire Lord's wife, she had no business at all in the Fire Nation since she was part of the reason it had lost, and because she was not worthy, her daughter, in turn, would be looked at the same way. Zuko would be forgiven, but she never would. She symbolized everything that the now passed Fire Lord had stood against. Katara turned to Kasumi and gave the child a comforting smile.

"Let's get you into some dry clothes," Katara suggested. Kasumi nodded and mirrored her mother's smile as the two walked to the child's room. Katara followed her daughter into the bedroom and opened her closet doors. Kasumi squished the water from her black hair behind her mother's back; her wet clothing dripped water onto the floor. Katara turned when she heard the water splatter onto the floor, a new dress in hand.

"Kasumi," Katara sighed, "don't do that." Kasumi stopped twisting her hair and letting the water pool on the floor and looked down at being scolded.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. Her golden eyes stared down at the water by her feet as her mother helped her get her wet outfit off and her dry one on. Katara smiled and lifted her hand. She gently pulled the water from her daughter's hair into her palm. She directed the water out the open window and let it fall. Kasumi touched her hair, smiled at her mother in thanks, and leaped onto her bed. Katara followed her and collapsed onto the pillows. Kasumi bounced a few times before falling onto her stomach and propping her head up with her hands. She glanced at the puddle of water on the floor from her hair and turned back to her mother. Her five-year-old smile, one that had been previously absent for most of the day, had returned to her face.

"Now, do you want to tell me what happened today Kasumi?" asked Katara as she pushed the child's hair from her face. Kasumi hesitated for a moment before recounting the details.

"One of the boys asked the teacher about bending today," Kasumi began, "our teacher had to explain it to us, but the boy's sister got bored and somehow burnt a piece of my dress. She got in trouble but then the teacher asked us if any of us could bend. The two boys raised their hands and so did she. I didn't cause, I've never bended anything. Can I bend mom? The teacher says you might be a bender if your parents are benders, and since I know you and Dad can bend, I should be a bender too, right?"

"You're still young, you have lots of time to find out if you're a bender," Katara replied, "but why were you in the water?"

"Oh," Kasumi nodded, "Li pushed me after class ended. We went outside and the Koi fish were jumping out of the pond. One the boys tried to hit one with his firebending but he missed and we leaned over the edge to try and find it, but I leaned too far and she pushed me in." Katara sighed and pulled her daughter into her lap.

"Oh Kasumi," Katara whispered, "I'm sorry." Just as she was looked down upon, her daughter would get the same treatment from her peers. While Kasumi had inherited her father's hair and eyes, just looking fire nation would never be enough…

A gentle knock interrupted the mother-daughter moment. Katara and Kasumi turned to see a messenger at the door.

"Excuse the interruption your highness, but you are needed," the man spoke as he bowed.

"Thank you," Katara nodded curtly. She got to her feet and turned to Kasumi, "stay out of trouble." She followed the messenger out of her daughter's room and down the hall. Katara knew she did not need to tell her daughter to stay out of trouble, Kasumi was an obedient child. She was quiet and somewhat shy until she was alone with her mother, only then would the child break out of her shell. The girl's room was the only place she truly felt she could express herself; the four walls and single door provided a safe haven from the other children in her class who often wandered the halls and gardens with their noble parents.

Most of the city had been destroyed, and the palace was the one place that seemed free of destruction, aside from the southern wing which was almost fully repaired. The messenger stepped aside and Katara entered the small meeting room that the court had assembled in. Zuko had offered them a refurbished room instead of the war room. Katara glanced over and saw Zuko sitting at the head of the table. One of the first customs to be done away with was the fact that the Fire Lord would not sit with the others at the table, instead being raised from the floor on his throne. Zuko had not challenged it when they suggested he joined them on the floor the first time they met, and it had not changed since then. An empty spot waited at his side and Katara took it, knowing it was hers since she was the last one to enter the room. The six men inclined their heads as she sat. Zuko watched her make her way to the spot next to him. Aside from at night, the two preferred to avoid each other. Kasumi, Katara had often guessed, knew both her parents had things to do and never questioned it. She saw her father for dinners but other than that she was attending her classes and did not happen to chance across him in the halls as Katara did.

Zuko noticed Katara seemed less cheerful that day then she usually was. Though she was not invited to many of the court meetings, as the group of men had dubbed it, and did not wish to be, she usually wore a more neutral face. A man from the Earth kingdom stood to address the others.

Katara tried to look attentive as they discussed the new measures that had been suggested to help the country. Trading and resistance struggles had been the only thing the group would discuss for the last five years. From their news, she had discovered that the Water Tribes had set up a good market for ice in the Fire Nation since the benders could keep it frozen for the entire journey, and that the Earth Kingdom was recovering its lost wealth through its various commodities which had escaped her mind at the moment. The Fire Nation had yet to bring in the amount of wealth it used to. The nation actually had to work for their profits now, so it was to be expected that the Fire Nation was a little behind. Work could also be done to improve the ports, where the pirates, their numbers seemingly increasing, hovered to steal the imports the Fire Nation was forced to buy to help the other two growing nations.

Katara noticed Zuko looked extremely bored. She wondered why she had been invited to this meeting at all, but then she recalled it was the first of the month. The meeting would review the plans set in motion for the next few weeks. While Zuko, as the Fire Lord, had to be present at every weekly meeting, Katara was only required to drop in every fourth one. She saw the men throughout the palace on some occasions when they moved from where they stayed on the grounds to where they conducted their business. Two of the men, one from the Water Tribe and one from the Earth Kingdom were in charge of trading between the nations. The two Fire Nation men were confined to internal affairs, but together they overruled Zuko's say on almost anything. The remaining two men worked on relations with the other nations in terms of rebuilding and anything out of trading that they were having issues with.

The meeting was ended over an hour later, freeing Katara from the prison the room had become. Zuko watched her disappear and hurry down the hall to where their daughter's bedroom was. The two Water Tribe men and the two Earth Kingdom men bowed to Zuko and left the room after Katara had. Zuko remained seated and watched the two Fire Nation members. The shorter one pulled at his mustache and looked to him.

"Yes," Zuko asked, he could see they wanted to speak to him alone.

"Your highness," began the taller of the two men, yet it was not as apparent when he was seated, "it had been brought to our attention that your daughter become five years old, and yet she has shown no signs of becoming a bender," he paused and then added, "for either fire or water."

"Not all children can bend at her age," Zuko replied calmly.

"Yes," the second man responded, "but they will at least show an interest in the element that they would be able to master by this age."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Zuko.

"We are only saying that you have but a single female heir, without the ability to bend," the man continued, "as I know you are quite aware, the throne would prefer to pass through a male heir, and preferably a firebender at that."

"We have decided," said the other man," that a male child will be necessary to pass the crown to when the time comes."

"And the sooner you have the child the better," added the shorter, mustached man.

"The crown can be passed to Kasumi without incident without another child," Zuko stuttered. He had no intention of trying for another child and glanced away for a second before staring at the two men, his composure returned.

"Yes," replied the man as he continued to talk, "but as I said, we have decided that it would be in the benefit of the country if you had a son. So much so, that we have made it a demand of this court."

"What," Zuko stammered, "you can't…"

"Yes, we can," replied the taller man, "we have the power to order whatever we see fit in the internal affairs of Lady Katara and yourself for the good of this nation. Never before has the crown passed to a female heir who can't bend and we won't let you break with an age old tradition." Zuko was silent, growling with anger under his breath, his teeth clenched in a primitive, yet hidden, frown.

"And if I refuse," Zuko stated.

"Then we'd be forced to take out of effect the placement of the firebenders you've sent to guard the merchant ships from the pirates," the shorter man said.

"But that's to keep the sailors safe and to make sure the ships make it to port without being looted. Pirates have become a big issue lately," Zuko said. He thought back to his own experiences with pirates, specifically blocking the memory of tying a _certain_ waterbender to a tree from surfacing in his mind.

"You know that, and we know that," said the larger man.

"But the nation needs a male heir more than it does successful shipments of," he paused, "well, whatever it is you're shipping." Zuko bit his lip to keep his anger in cheek and narrowed his golden eyes. He wanted to shout and tell them that the shipyards were only importing what was required to try and get the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes into the world affairs of trade and business. Each lost shipment had to still be paid for even though it never reached port. He needed those firebenders to guard against the pirate raids. He had been given a limit for his standing army, and those men were a part of it. Zuko would have dissolved the military without the court's decision but kept the more seasoned units as standard procedure. At least to the fire nation citizens that was how it had been viewed. Zuko stood and walked to the door. As he passed through it the mustached man spoke.

"The guards will be removed until the lady is with a child," Zuko frowned and left the room. He knew they were laughing at him, enjoying giving him just enough power to pretend to have control of his country. Azula had been right; he was nothing more than a puppet king…

--

Katara took a sip of water from her glass and nodded as Kasumi continued to tell her story. They had almost finished with their dinner, only a few bites remained on her plate. Kasumi glanced over to her father, happy to see he had joined them for the entire meal, at least physically. Katara noticed his mind was deep in thought as soon as he sat down at the table. Kasumi did not seem to notice or mind, and continued to recite her story of what she had learned, along with a string of questions which were usually started by _why_ and _what if_. Luckily, Katara had already answered most of them by the time dinner had begun.

Zuko stood, half of his food untouched on his plate, dismissed himself, and walked to the door, making his exit. Kasumi watched him go.

"Mom," she asked, "what's wrong with-"

"Nothing Kasumi," Katara said before her daughter could finish. The gold eyed girl watched the door for a moment longer, asked to be excused from the table, and then stood up with her mother's permission to go. She bounded off in the opposite direction, leaving Katara alone in the dining room. She eyed her empty plate and knew the servants would come in to retrieve the dinnerware once she left.

The waterbender rose and sighed to herself. She wondered why Zuko was acting the way he was. The meeting had gone fine; he had nothing to be upset about. She bit her lip, wondering if she would regret what she was about to do. She strode purposely from the room and towards the study where Zuko usually stayed during the day. She reached the door and pulled on the handle.

"Zuko?" she asked. She peered inside but did not see him. After a quick inspection, she left the empty room and walked down the hall. Katara paused to watch the sunset out of one of the western facing windows before walking down the rest of the hall. She paused at the doors to the bedroom she shared with Zuko. A gentle glow seeped under the door into the hallway. Katara pushed open the door and looked inside.

"Zuko?" she asked again. Her question was met by a pair of golden eyes. "I was looking for you." Zuko raised his eyebrow with surprise. Katara avoided his questioning eyes and made her way across the room to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Kasumi was worried about you," Katara added. She did not add that she was also curious as to his sudden change in mood. Zuko surprised her and got up, standing in front of her.

"Kasumi doesn't need to worry," Zuko sighed, "this is _our_ issue."

"Our?" asked Katara, she swallowed nervously before taking a deep, calming breath. Zuko sighed and glanced away, refusing to met her eyes.

"The court wants a male heir," Zuko stated. Katara stared at him for a moment before realizing what that entailed. A blush came to her checks.

"No," she stammered, "Kasumi's fine, there's no law-"

"No _written_ law," Zuko explained.

"What do you mean?" asked Katara. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest.

"The crown to the Fire Nation has never been passed to a female heir who can't bend," Zuko said, "while there is no law against Kasumi taking the throne, the court has made their demands clear so we can't break with tradition."

"Has a non-bender _ever_ taken the throne_?_" asked Katara.

"Once," Zuko stated, "but his brother had him killed three days later." Katara shivered. What kind of people had the rulers of the Fire Nation been? She had never heard of anything like that happening in the Water Tribes.

"How have they," asked Katara pausing, her voice hinted at irritation, "what could they have done-"

"They've taken out the firebenders I've assigned at the ports and on the ships," Zuko cut her off. Katara frowned. She wanted to say to him 'so what', but she knew what he would say. While the trade was supposed to benefit both parties, it would only cause hardships if the shipments never made it. Zuko would never beg in front of the court to come up with another way, and Katara doubted that he would ever find one. The men, especially the two from the Fire Nation, seemed to think they could force their way onto Zuko and herself. They had backed off after Kasumi had been born to wait and see if she could firebend. Katara sighed, Kasumi was not a firebender, she was sure of it. The child appeared to show no interest in water either. Katara remembered how proud her mother had been of her when she had found her talent at Kasumi's age. Though making waves in a glass of water was nothing to be excited over, her mother had celebrated the knowledge. There were no waterbenders in the southern water tribe aside from her. She wondered if since the time her brother and her had left the tribe till now, any of the children she had left had found out they could bend. She pushed the thought from her mind, folded her hands, and closed her cerulean eyes. She wanted those children to grow up in a world free of warring nations. One misstep could cause reason for fighting to start in an already tense situation. Zuko and herself held the key to continued peace; at least that was how those men at the court had explained it to Zuko and herself.

"What would make them put the guards back?" asked Katara. Zuko slowly turned to face her and his golden eyes rested on her bowed head.

"You-" Zuko hesitated, "with another child." Katara nodded and slowly rose to her feet. She opened her blue eyes and released a deep breath.

--

Katara gazed down at the bundle in her arms. A year had passed since the court meeting, yet the baby was only a month old. The sun was warm on Katara's tanned skin as she sat in the grass. Kasumi happily braided her mother's hair. The group sat at the turtle duck pond under a tree. Katara's toes hung into the water, her shoes discarded in the nearby grass. Katara sat in her blue dress while each of her children where clothed in red. Kasumi tied off the sloppy braid and gazed around the courtyard. Her golden eyes spotted another figure walking towards them. The child pulled on the azure fabric of Katara's dress.

"Mommy," she whispered, her voice held a slight hesitation to it. Katara turned to see what had startled her daughter; she narrowed her blue eyes and got to her feet. The visitor held back a laugh at Katara's action but continued her approach. Azula stepped into the sunlight of the yard. Her surprise at finding Katara and the two girls vanished once they had seen her. She had done nothing to interfere with Zuko's ruling, and she wanted _nothing_ to with the controlling council men who regulated the nation; she knew what was going on behind the numerous closed doors in the palace. She had remained in the palace, the princess who could claim the throne from her brother if deemed necessary. She refused to let herself be pushed down the path Katara had been; no one was going to marry her off anytime soon.

Azula stopped walking and laid her hand against the tree. She noticed the older daughter; her niece had seemed to have lost her fears and knelt to pull at the flowers surrounding the pool. Absentmindedly, Azula though to how much the girl had taken after her brother. Azula scoffed to herself when she remembered the girl could not firebend. It was almost unheard of for a blood member of the royal family to not be able to bend. The fact that Katara was a master waterbender was the only reason Azula found herself not annoying her as she would have done to any of the other idiot noble girls her brother could have been stuck with. It was not a requirement for the wife of the Fire Lord to be able to firebend, so they would have been easy targets for Azula to bother. While she had never gotten to know Katara, she found herself able to trust the water tribe girl, able to trust the fact that she would _always_ be an enemy. Zuko had his good and bad moods, and Mai and Ty Lee were never around the palace anymore. While it was no longer essential to know who was on what side since the war ended, Azula found comfort in the fact she would always know where Katara stood.

Katara watched the Fire Nation princess walk away, both sets of eyes never leaving their targets until they were out of sight. Katara looked down to her newest daughter in her arms, Tala, and then to Kasumi on the ground. While she did not want to tempt fate, Katara desperately hoped Tala was a fire bender. She held Tala tighter to her chest and tried to enjoy the sun on her skin even though the warmth seemed to have faded.

--

Zuko pushed back the curtains of the library. He paused as he saw Katara teaching Tala to walk and found himself smiling. He had watched Katara bring both the girls into the courtyard for a little over a year. The Fire Lord returned to the letter he had locked himself in the library to write. Two words occupied the top section of the otherwise empty paper, 'Dear Uncle'. He knew what he wanted to ask, but not how he wanted to ask it. He knew Uncle Iroh could help. Zuko returned to his seat, picked up a brush, and dipped it in black ink. He wanted to ask his uncle about bending; not simple questions, everyone knew that family history played a major part in determining if a person could or could not bend. It was unusual for the children of the Fire Lord not to be firebenders. He knew it had happened before, but it was so rare. Zuko scribbled down the dilemma he was faced with and let the paper dry before rolling it up and leaving the room. He walked down the open hallway, passed Katara and Tala, heard Kasumi call out 'good morning', and turned left towards the aviary where they kept the messenger hawks. He hoped his uncle would get the message soon, even though he was halfway across the world in Ba Sing Se with his tea shop.

--

Zuko received his answer almost two months later. He pulled open the rolled parchment and read across the letter. He paused when he was done, realizing his uncle had written this and how much he missed him and wished he was still here in the Fire Nation.

'Zuko, I'm happy to hear Kasumi is well and about your youngest daughter. I'm not sure what you want to know about bending that you don't know already.' Zuko glanced through the letter. He referenced the tea shop and how Ba Sing Se was recovering as well as reminding Zuko how proud he was of him. The last piece of the letter caught Zuko's attention. It repeated the lesson Iroh had taught him about the elements when he had taught him about lightning, except only water and fire were mentioned. Zuko reread the section then read his uncle's last paragraph.

'I fear you may have your work cut out for you for you if those men want a child who is able to fire bend.' The dragon of the west wrote, 'benders of the opposite element have never come together in the way you and Katara have. Because you two have this elemental opposition I think any bending the girls could have would be canceled out. Like pouring water on the fire and changing it to steam which dissipates into the air, your abilities might not pass to your children.'

Zuko let the letter slide from his fingers and settle onto the floor. He leaned forward and rested his head on his hands. Zuko wondered if his uncle was right. The fact that he had understood his philosophy almost surprised him more than the fact that he doubted it; he wanted to doubt it. He had always seen Iroh as his ultimate source of wisdom in his life. If his uncle had not known the answer, Zuko felt lost. Zuko paused; now that he thought about it, he had even felt lost when his uncle _had_ known the answers. The memories brought a smile to the Fire Lord's face. He stood and folded the letter into one of the books he had removed to read later in the day. Zuko left the room and walked out into the gardens.

The warm sunlight sparkled as it hit the water in the pond. Zuko spotted Katara lying on her back in the grass. Tala bounced happily next to her, pulling at the grass and tossing it into the air. A small pile had formed on Katara's lap, but she was ignoring it and letting the toddler have her fun. Kasumi lay on the grass on her stomach, her legs curled up in the air. The two children had on their red clothing; Kasumi dressed in her school outfit. Katara stood out once again in her favorite blue dress made in Fire Nation style. Her hair was braided, lying in the grass where it had flopped when she laid down to the watch the clouds.

Zuko wondered if she had done this with the avatar and her brother before he had joined them. When he became part of their group they had hardly had the time to breathe, let alone look at the clouds. She looked so peaceful, a smile on her lips as her blue eyes stared up, lazily half-closed to the sun. Zuko stood for a moment; he wondered if she knew he was there. The three of them had not even moved when he shut the door leading the garden rather noisily. He treaded over the grass to where Katara lay. The lush, green lawn bent under his feet; Tala looked to him and smiled, reaching her short, pudgy baby arms towards him in a simple request to be held. Katara, broken from the allure of the clouds in the sky, followed the baby's happy laughter with her blue eyes. Spotting Zuko, she pulled herself up until she was sitting, then grabbed Tala and rose to her feet. She balanced the toddler on her hip and faced Zuko. Tala happily quieted in her mother's arms, her tiny hands grasping the end of her braided hair to examine it. Silence fell between the two of them.

"I just received a letter from my uncle," Zuko said.

"Is he ok?" asked Katara, her face carried concern as she spoke.

"He's fine," Zuko explained. Katara relaxed slightly with the news. She shifted Tala's weight onto her other hip.

"What did the letter say?" Katara asked. She knew it had to be something important or Zuko would not have sought her out to talk about it.

"It's about us," Zuko said. His golden eyes left Katara's face to look at the pond. Katara blinked a few times, confusion apparent in her cerulean orbs.

"Kasumi," Katara called. Zuko watched as his eldest daughter pulled herself from her daydream and looked to them. A smile lit up her face.

"Kasumi, watch Tala for a moment," Katara said. The master waterbender set Tala on the ground next to her sister. Kasumi nodded and spun around so that she sat up and turned her attention to her little sister. With Tala settled in Kasumi's arms, Katara walked back to Zuko.

"Let's take a walk," she suggested. Her eyes glanced over him then stared straight ahead as she walked. Zuko hesitated slightly before he walked after her. The two walked side by side through the open hallways connecting the gardens. Their paces matched without them noticing or trying. Two opposites: red and blue, nervous and calm, walked beside one another.

"So," Katara spoke. The silence around them shattered, "what did your uncle say?" They passed one of the noblewomen whose son was in Kasumi's class, walking with her son in the other direction down the pathway. Once they passed them Zuko started to explain. "He told me why he thinks Kasumi and Tala are not able to bend," Zuko stated.

"Tala's just turned one," Katara said, "I would be surprised if she showed any signs of becoming a bender this early." Her tone was slightly chastising: Zuko was a firebender, he should know when children started to show signs that they could bend. She sighed and glanced up, their gazes interlocking for a moment, "and."

"He said he didn't think they'd _ever_ be able to bend," Zuko explained. Katara stopped walking.

"What?" she questioned, "why? Both of us are masters," she paused, looked and Zuko, then back at the sky, "well practically masters. They should have a _better_ chance because they have two different elements in their blood. That's two chances!"

"That's the problem," Zuko stated, "uncle thinks it's the other way around because Fire and Water are polar opposites, they might cancel each other out." Katara blinked a few times, processing the information Zuko had just relayed to her.

"Has your uncle ever been wrong?" Katara asked, her voice solemn. Zuko looked up to the clouds, lost in thought for a moment. That reasoning had first popped into his head as well, but he had brushed it off.

"My uncle always said 'destiny is a funny thing'," Zuko quoted, "this might be one of those times." Katara remained silent as she let the words sink in.

"I can't give up hope on their abilities," Katara spoke, "maybe, if we give them enough time-"

"We have two years," Zuko stated sadly.

"What?" asked Katara, confusion choked her voice.

"The court said if Tala doesn't show any signs of becoming a bender by 3 then…" Zuko cut himself off, not wanting to finish the sentence. He knew Katara knew what he would have said.

"Why three?" asked Katara, "no one can bend at three years old! I didn't even know for sure I could bend until I was six, that's twice that age!" Zuko looked away from her questioning gaze.

---

_Zuko stood up from his chair in one shift movement. The meeting had slowly spiraled out of his control, as all of them seemed to do. The two men had expressed their dismay about Tala not being a boy throughout the entire meeting. Since the meeting had only been the three of them, Zuko wondered if that was the day's only topic._

"_She's still too young to even try to bend, I don't-" Zuko replied calmly._

"_How old were you, Firelord Zuko?" asked one of the men. Zuko had not been paying attention to know which one of them had interrupted him._

"_For what?" snapped Zuko. He closed his golden eyes for only a moment before he regained his composure. He noticed he had been doing that a lot lately._

"_When it was obvious you were a fire bender," continued the short man._

"_Five," Zuko replied. The man nodded. Zuko stepped away from the table and moved towards the door. Halfway to the door, the shorter man spoke again._

"_And your sister?" he grinned. Zuko hesitated in his stride._

"_Three," he answered. He continued to the door, his hand pushing it open._

"_We'll give the child three years then," the man stated. Zuko left the room, his anger veiled beneath a hardened mask fit for any of the previous Fire Lords._

---

"Why three?" Katara asked.

"That was when it was learned that Azula was a firebender," Zuko stated blankly. He tried to hide his emotions beneath an exterior of calmness when he saw a group of high ranking noble men enter the small garden Katara and him shared. He almost wished the palace gardens were closed off to the others, but he knew that many of them enjoyed the natural beauty uncommonly found in the fire nation capital.

"What could she have done at three?" Katara asked, her voice cracking. She turned to look at Zuko, her gaze level, cerulean meeting gold.

"She touched the flames on the candles without burning herself," Zuko explained. Her accomplishment had come a full year before he discovered his own hidden talent. Katara nodded to herself and turned away.

"I see," she said slowly. Zuko saw her lips quiver as she looked back the way they had come. He was shocked at the revelation but followed her slowly, only a step behind, back to the girls. He noticed bits of grass twirled into her braid. He stopped himself from brushing them off. The Fire Lord hesitated in his stride, questioning what was going through his mind. Zuko wondered why his gaze had fallen from her eyes to her lips. They'd only kissed once, the day of their wedding, and that one had been as chaste as kisses came. Their relationship was only smoke and mirrors, as long as the world believed they were in love and peace continued because the oldest of elemental enemies could get along, then things would be ok. He noticed that her eyes held unshed tears, but she would not let them fall, not here, not in anyone's presence. Katara had not changed so much, but it was enough so that if Aang or Sokka or Toph would have seen her, they would have to have done a double take. The war had changed her; Zuko watched it firsthand. Her trusting nature had vanished the moment he had picked his nation over helping her and Aang back in the catacombs. Now though, Katara seemed to only open up to her children. She never let them know that anything was wrong, but she acted like she used to act when she was with them.

Zuko stopped at the railing separating the gardens from the walkway as Katara stepped onto the grass and moved towards the two little girls. A smile graced her features, her eyes shining with happiness as she lifted Tala onto her hip once more. The child latched onto Katara, reaching out with her other hand to touch her mother's face. Zuko did not blame her; she had had to give up so much, so many precious things to the world and to him. Katara would only get back the continued peace of the world, the knowledge that Aang was safe, and the unconditional love of her two daughters. The Fire Lord turned and left them; he headed back to the library to reread the letter, praying he had misread it.

---

Katara turned to watch Kasumi as she fell out of her handstand. At nine, she still had shown no inclination to control the elements her parents could. Tala, only a day over three, had also not made any progress in the area of bending. Katara sighed as she realized that her daughters might never see the water as anything other than wet, cold liquid. They would never feel the magical healing powers that water could bless them with, the ease of protecting themselves and others, or the sense of knowing who they were and what they could be. As much as she wanted them to be able to control water, if they took after Zuko then the problem would be solved. If either Kasumi or Tala had a natural affinity for fire, then they could inherit the throne from Zuko without issue.

Katara glanced to the flower in her fingers, spinning slowly. Tala had presented it to her as she led them outside. Shaking off her fears, Katara smiled and stood. She pushed the meeting Zuko was attending at the moment out of her mind as she helped Kasumi do a proper handstand in the grass.

---

Zuko opened his golden eyes slowly after counting to five and exhaling purposely. He sat at the head of the table, accompanied by the two men representing the fire nation. Zuko scoffed at the irony. These two men represented what his nation had been, greedy and power-hungry men with nothing to do except try to assert their power on weaker persons. What annoyed Zuko more than that his nation was misrepresented was the fact that _he_ was in the position of the weaker person. These two men had total control of what he did, and they knew it. The only reasons they did not have complete control of his nation were the other four members of the court, and that Katara, his two daughters, Azula, and himself, were all alive and, with the exception of him, they could stand up to their ridiculous demands without the laws of the pact hanging over their heads. He was facing one of those demands at the moment.

"Tell me again why we can't wait until Tala turns five?" asked Zuko, "five is the average age when a child shows signs of becoming a bender."

"We'd have to wait two more years then," said the shorter man. He'd grown his mustache into a full beard in the time since Tala's birth, "and we've already waited three, as we agreed."

"I didn't agree," Zuko snapped. He paused, taking another calming breath before speaking again, "you set the age and I _had_ to agree."

"And now the world is growing impatient," the man continued. His partner was silent. The taller man had grown quieter in the privet meetings between the Fire Lord and themselves.

"The world is finally starting to recover," Zuko explained calmly, "it's been almost ten years since the war ended; the Fire Nation is starting to gain back some of its lost honor.

"Honor that will vanish if your sister takes the throne," the once silent man explained.

"Is that what's worrying you?" asked Zuko, "that my sister will take the throne?"

"Her birthright entitles her to it if you do not have a proper heir," the shorter man stated.

"Kasumi and Tala are both _proper_-" Zuko stated. One of the men cut him off, he was unsure of which.

"Not anymore," the man said.

"What?" Zuko asked, his calm gone.

"After our last deal, we changed the laws regarding the lineage of the royal family," the man continued, "you must have a son. It is now a written law."

"No," Zuko stated. He paused, "I can't do that to Katara." The two men exchanged a look.

"So you'll let the world fall into the hands of your sister because you don't want to enjoy-"

"Don't say it," Zuko ordered, his golden eyes narrowed. If looks could kill, both men would be dead on the floor.

"Then listen to reason," the taller man spoke.

"And the law," the bearded man ordered.

"You need a son," they stated together. The two men rose and left the brooding Fire Lord. They closed the door behind them and turned to each other. Zuko had wanted to tell them that his sister had no inclination to be married to anyone, let alone be a mother to an eligible heir of the Fire Nation, but he kept his cool. The two men began their walk to the building where they and the other members of the court lived.

"Do you think this will work?" asked the taller man.

"If not, I have other ways planned," the short man grinned.

---

A ceramic pot crashed into the wall where Zuko's head had been only seconds before. Katara reached for another item to throw; her slender fingers wrapped themselves around an iron candle holder. She pulled back her arm to throw it and gasped when her movement was stopped. Zuko's hand gripped her wrist, the candle holder still in her grasp. Katara tried to pull her arm back, but Zuko's grasp only tightened. His other hand had found her free hand, keeping them both secure in his iron grip.

"Let go," Katara commanded. Her blue eyes shown with determination as she met his golden ones.

"Not until you let go of the candle holder and listen to me," Zuko growled. He felt strangely powerful standing there, his grip on her wrists unfaltering. He'd let her have her way back when he had joined the avatar's group so she would accept him. Their interaction in the palace had been minimal as well, the only time they saw each other was at night or at meals.

Katara turned away and un-tensed her arms; they hung limp from Zuko's hands. He slowly brought them down and released them at her sides. A memory flashed through both their minds; a younger Zuko catching Katara's hands as she ran into him trying to escape. Her blue eyes held so much fear then, yet now they were set like stones, firm, unyielding. Zuko watched her replace the undamaged candle holder and met her eyes as she face him.

"Why aren't Kasumi and Tala good enough for them?" asked Katara. Zuko heard a twinge of emotion in her voice, but it was her face that truly betrayed her feelings.

"They've made it a law," Zuko sighed, "the heir must be either a male or a firebender."

"I know," Katara said. She closed her blue eyes, as if shutting out the world.

"Katara," Zuko said, he paused, "I'm sorry, for all of this." He had apologized… For something he had no control over no less… To her… The waterbender glanced up at him for a moment, wondering if she was dreaming.

---

Katara wished she _had_ been dreaming that night. After their conversation, even though it would be their third time coming together, she had never felt the tenseness escalate to such heights. The awkwardness had faded since Tala's conception, yet as she sat on the bed holding her newest child, the memories darted in and out of her mind; it probably did not help since she was sitting on the same bed as _that_ night. The child slept soundly in her arms, wrapped in a red blanket, as were her two others. The baby had opened its eyes yesterday for a moment, revealing a flash of gold. Katara smiled; the Fire Nation would have an heir that looked like his father, aside from the scar. Zuko and her had named him Tsun, hoping he'd have the ability to bend unlike his sisters.

The child was silent in her arms until his golden eyes, not a harsh gold like Zuko's, but a more washed out gold, opened. It was as if the color was diluted, but it was only noticeable to Katara since she knew Zuko's eyes so well. His mouth opened in a premature yawn, then closed slowly. The woman who had delivered him had told her that he was a very healthy baby. She told Zuko she would expect him to start crawling and walking sooner than his sisters had. Katara smiled and offered her finger to the baby as he squirmed and freed his hands. He gripped her long finger to his body and closed his gold eyes to sleep.

* * *

Ok, that one's done now… A piece of one of the scenes is an allusion (maybe that's the word) to a book I've just read. Virtual cookies for anyone who can guess what book the specific scene is from :) . Remember to Review! I love reviews! Please!


	3. Heartbreak

**I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender**…

So… Here is the new chapter… it took a really long time to get this one up… Not that it's longer than the others (it's shorter really) but it's just so sad.

(FYI) In case my extra spacings between two paragraphs haven't been showing up (grr) they are now represented by (-) which means a time change were as (---) means a scene change...

* * *

Chapter 3) _Heartbreak_

The fire nation had always been known for its hot summers. This one though, especially to Katara, made all the previous ones feel like pleasant days in the spring. The ponds in the courtyard had all but dried up. The lawns were yellow and almost dead. The weather had yet to turn; no clouds loomed in the western horizon promising to bring rain. Katara wiped the gathering beads of sweat from her face and pushed on. The capital city, though midday, was deserted. Shops stood empty in the open markets. Katara would have thought them abandoned if she did not know better.

The heat which had plagued the city for almost a month had brought with it more than just sweltering sunlight. Wells had dried up along with the few crops that were actually grown in the city and not shipped in from other parts of the nation; the fields had been reduced to places filled with withered stalks, yellow and dying. Zuko had thought to remedy the situation by importing the needed food from the Earth Kingdom. When the first shipment arrived at the ports weeks later, most of the food was in worse condition then the crops of the city and surrounding areas. Those weeks at sea, unprotected in the sunlight, since no method of preservation was known, had the same effect as in the fields. The city had been hit so hard by the drought and heat that even the palace was affected by the food shortage, though only Zuko and Azula noticed the food was thinner and less flavorful then before. Katara gave the cooks credit, she never knew the difference. Zuko had not said a word about it, Katara knew he did not mind, but Azula had made her opinion brutally clear. Katara sighed as she wondered how much more she could handle seeing the princess around; she had seen so much of her in the past three years, more then she thought she could live with.

Katara stepped inside a shaded building and had to let her eyes readjust to the darkness. She was caught up in a fury of activity once her blue eyes registered the scene before her. It looked the same as yesterday had. Mentally preparing herself, Katara stepped into the action.

The city had been recently hit by an epidemic of grandiose proportions along with the heat. Many citizens blamed the rising temperatures, but no one could prove the correlation. At first only the farmers and peasants were hit with the disease, but in a few days the nobles were suffering as well. The illness was unknown to the physicians in town and the palace, nonetheless, they set up a makeshift hospital in the market and took in the sick to try and cure them. Katara had joined in eagerly. Her freedom from the palace overshadowed the fact that almost everyone who walked into the makeshift hospital died. The physicians had welcomed Katara's assistance; she did not care if they only let her in because she was royalty; it felt good to be able to help out again. The illness brought mostly incurable side effects such as labored breathing and cold-like symptoms. Katara could only use her powers to heal on the patients who suffered from the illness' head splitting headaches and itchy rashes which appeared on the neck and arms.

Her supply of fresh water, limited to start with, had dwindled to nothing after a course of only three days. For a nation surrounded by oceans, water was a precious resource. The waterbender wished Toph, or any earthbender had been with her when the hospital staff turned to the ocean water to fill their supply. Alone, Katara could do nothing to separate the salt from the water, and since no one could help her, the physicians resorted to boiling the water and catching the steam to let it drop back into a separate bucket. Sokka would have been proud of their makeshift water purification system; Katara smiled at the thought of her brother.

Pulling herself to the present, Katara focused on the man complaining of a severe headache in front of her. She dipped her hands in the bucket of water and lifted them once the water glowed around her fingers. She placed them on the man's temples, applying slight pressure. Katara released the water after a moment and returned it to the supply. Some splashed up onto her red dress, leaving a dark mark at her hip. Katara was always cognoscente to wear her red outfits whenever she left the palace. She might be able to wear her tribe's colors in the sanctity of the palace without notice, but in the city, someone would make a fuss about it. For a world trying to come together as one, the people still cared a lot about where they came from and their elemental colors. Someone had to give in to accomplish anything.

Katara turned to the next patient after laying a cool, damp cloth over the man's head. The woman next to him suffered from labored breathing as well as headaches. Her breathing was more ragged every day, but at least her fever had had fallen slightly; her forehead no longer burned under Katara's cool hands. Freezing a handful of water, the waterbender placed the ice, wrapped in a piece of cloth, on the woman's forehead. There was no cure for her labored breathing that Katara could offer, that much she had to leave to the doctors.

Many of the patients had already died, mostly the older ones. Infants, usually the hardest hit in epidemics, had not been affected. Other than that small percentage, the illness spared no one type of person. Several of the palace servants had fallen ill, along with Kasumi's teacher. He had been the first of the palace staff to fall ill.

A shout pulled her from her work. A hand appeared on her arm, motioning for her to follow. Katara dropped the wet cloth back into the bucket of cool water and hurried after the young woman leading her. They entered the main room and a young child threw himself into Katara's arms.

"Tsun," Katara said startled, "what are you doing here?" The boy was dressed as a prince should be, his red and gold clothing embroidered with the nation's symbol. Katara did not recall ever telling him where she went during the day. His older sisters, now eight and twelve, usually watched over him when he was not with his firebending teacher or Zuko. Katara frowned. Zuko always knew where she was, he had probably told him where to go.

"One of Kasumi's classmates got sick, he's at the palace," Tsun answered, "Dad wants you back." Katara nodded and followed him outside. She had done all she could for the day anyway; there were no more patients she could assist with her healing powers. Tsun led her down the empty streets through the blinding sunshine, the heat having no effect on him. When they reached the palace, Katara wiped the sweat from her forehead and paused to catch her breath.

"Come on Mom," Tsun stated, pulling on her hand. They moved through the open corridor and into the room where the palace physician looked after anyone who was sick. Zuko stood at the door, leaning against the wall. He looked far from the Fire Lord he was supposed to be; Katara felt the corners of her mouth tug into a smile. It vanished when he lifted his golden eyes to meet her blue ones. Before he could say a word, she silenced him with a question of her own.

"Did you tell them the palace physician is in town with the others?" she asked condescendingly.

"Yes," he replied, "they refused to go there." Zuko saw Katara roll her eyes before she stepped into the room. Tsun peered inside but saw nothing of interest; he left to find his sisters.

The child's parents sat at their son's side. The boy's mother did her best to keep her tears in check before Zuko and Katara, but she did not seem to manage. Looking at her tear stained face, Katara _almost_ forgot that this woman hated her. The boy's chest rose and fell quickly; his breath came in short gasps. Katara stood over him, placing her hand on his head. She drew it back in an instant; his forehead was as hot as fire. Katara meet his mother's eyes for a moment, then turned away to speak with Zuko, but he moved first. She watched his own hand repeat the action her smaller one had just preformed.

"He has a high fever," Katara announced, more to Zuko then to the boy's parents. The boy appeared to be sleeping, but he could have been unconscious; Katara was unsure.

"No, it's only a mild fever," Zuko explained. He turned to the boy's father, "you said he could bend, right?" The man nodded, his face set in a solemn expression.

"Children who can firebend often have higher fevers then those without the ability," Zuko explained to Katara, "they still need to work on controlling their body's fire, so their temperature rises and falls in an effort to control it when they are sick and can't focus on it. His fever isn't very bad." He turned back to the boy's father again, "when did he get sick?"

"He was fine until he ate breakfast," the man said, "he went out to practice with his teacher and fainted. He's been like this since." Katara dropped her hands into the pot of water, the liquid binding to her hands and glowing softly. She laid her hands on the boy's chest. Slowly, she moved down his body, searching for injured, healable tissue. Tears came to her cerulean eyes as she remembered Jet. She knew he had been dying, but she had not found anything wrong with him either.

"There's nothing I can do," Katara sighed, "all we can do is wait." The mother of the boy sobbed into her husband's shoulder. Zuko watched the couple silently; he placed a hand on Katara's shoulder. Her teary blue eyes reflected the candlelight from the burning flame. Katara let Zuko guide her from the room, closing the door behind her.

"Katara," he mumbled.

"I couldn't do anything," she stated blankly, she tried to keep her emotion in check; "it was just like with Jet. I know that woman hates me and I can't stand her, but it's not fair for her son to die. I wish I could have done something."

"You tried your best," came Zuko's reply. Katara paused; his tone had softened to the point where she wondered if he had reverted back to the Zuko in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se. She had been crying there too. Now, her tears had simply welled up in her eyes, where before they had streamed down her face.

"Mom!" called Tala. She skidded to a halt as she rounded the corner and spotted her parents. Zuko lifted his hand from Katara's shoulder, and the moment was broken.

"Tsun wants to show you something!" she smiled. The girl grabbed her mother's hand and pulled her off towards the gardens. Zuko watched them leave; he turned and headed towards the library.

Tala pulled her outside to where Tsun stood. A smile bloomed on his face even while his breath came in short gasps. When Tala and Katara appeared Kasumi turned to them, a frown marring her features.

"He did it again!" she stated clearly, taking a step towards her mother while trying to hide a piece of her dress.

"But I got it right," came Tsun's happy reply, "I did it!"

"You should have seen him mom, Tala exclaimed. Katara blinked, confused. She wiped her tears from her eyes and set a smile on her face. She had to be strong for them; she had to be happy to keep them happy; she could not let them be worried for things that were not their problems.

"What did you do Tsun? Are you ok?" she asked. She grabbed him up in a hug.

"I can do a new set of stances," Tsun explained, "watch." Katara let her son go and watched him take up his bending stance. He raised his hands in front of his chest and took a few deep breaths. He began moving slowly, his steps calculated. A flame burst from his left fist into the air. A lesser flame shot from his right foot as he followed his flaming punch with a short kick. Katara watched the child move through his stances. She had seen a lot of fire bending throughout her life, now she was watching her own son perform it. Katara felt a small amount of relief that he would not need to use his ability to fight for real, it would mostly be for show and for whatever use firebending had in a peaceful world. He would not be a part of a war that involved the world like Zuko and she had been. Tsun stood and gave a short bow towards Katara and his sisters.

"See?" he smiled. His breathing was heavier than before. Katara smiled.

"That was beautiful," Katara complimented, "you're getting so good." Kasumi nodded, flashing a weak smile her brother's way; her attitude was a complete reversal to before. Tala rolled her golden eyes at her mother's words.

"I can do that too," she scowled, "but without fire." Katara wrapped her arms around Tala, catching the eight-year-old in a tight embrace and laughing.

---

The bed shifted slightly as Katara rolled over onto her side. The bedroom was dark, not even moonbeams drifted through the closed curtains. Zuko lay on his back on the other side of the bed. It was past midnight; everyone should have been asleep. Zuko and Katara slept soundly as the door to their room was pushed open. The visitor did not tiptoe in, as she had done years before when scary dreams had woken her, but she did not storm across the room making excess noise either. She moved with purpose across the room, silent as a shadow, and stood over her mother's sleeping form.

"Mom," she whispered, her panic held in check. The girl reached out and laid a hand on Katara's shoulder to shake it gently. She raised her voice slightly, "Mom." The sheet rustled on the other side of the bed. Zuko sat up and turned to the shadow. The girl had expected this; Zuko always woke when she tried to rouse Katara.

"Kasumi, what's wrong," he asked. His voice carried across the room, waking Katara from her dreams.

"It's Tsun," Kasumi said, panic slipping into her voice, "something's wrong. He passed out in my room; I didn't know what to do." Katara and Zuko stood and hurried from the room, Kasumi following them to her room. They reached the darkened bedroom, careful not to wake Tala who slept peacefully in her bed across the hall. Zuko lit the candles upon entering, filling the corners with light. Katara rushed to Tsun's limp body on the ground. He had fallen onto the rug next to Kasumi's bed; his breathing came in short gasps. The image of the boy from Kasumi's class filled Katara's mind as she pulled her son into her arms.

"He woke me up to tell me he thought he had a fever and just fell down," Kasumi explained quickly, "I didn't know what to do so-"

"It's ok Kasumi," Zuko interrupted, "you did the right thing." Kasumi nodded and bit her lip to keep from crying. Zuko knelt besides Katara on the rug and put a hand to Tsun's head.

"He has a high fever," he told Katara. The waterbender nodded and pulled him closer in a tight hug. Zuko reached around her embrace and lifted Tsun into his arms. Katara stood as Zuko shifted Tsun's small body so he would not fall.

"Let's take him to his room," Katara directed, "Kasumi, you need to get me some water." The twelve-year-old nodded and hurried off to get what her mother had requested as Zuko and Katara walked to Tsun's room. Zuko set Tsun in his bed. Katara fluffed the pillows under his head and moved his hair from his closed eyes. Kasumi appeared with a bowl of water and set it on the night table within Katara's reach.

"Thank you Kasumi," Katara said. She reached over and took the bowl, setting it on the bed beside her. Zuko stood over her, watching the waterbender as she lifted her glowing hands and pressed them against their son's temples. Slowly over the next ten minutes, the water diminished his fever. His head no longer burned like the fire he controlled, yet sweat still beaded from his face.

"Tsun," Katara whispered. The water on her hands had been used to the last drop; she laid them on her son's chest. She listened to his breathing as it calmed slightly. Zuko watched Katara as she closed her eyes, tears slowly sliding down her face. He was surprised to see them. She had not cried in front of him since- he could not even remember when he had last seen her _really _cry, it must have been before the war had even ended.

"Why?" she asked the empty space of the room. Her voice cracked with emotion.

"What did he do today?" Zuko asked. Katara quieted her already silent sobbing and looked up.

"He did what he normally does," Katara explained, "he ate breakfast, practiced bending, ate lunch, showed me what he learned, went to bed," Katara paused, "he looked more tired than usual after his practice, but I thought that his teacher was just pushing him harder. You know she expects a lot from him." Katara finished; turning to Zuko, her tears returned.

"It sounds similar to the other boy," Zuko sighed, "they both did the same things and after they trained they fell ill. Tsun seemed to have held the sickness off longer."

"But so many people are sick without any ability to bend, what about them?" Katara asked, "and besides, he always drinks a lot of water during his practices, he should be fine, the heat doesn't bother him." Silence filled the air between them; only Tsun's breathing made a sound.

"Unless it's the water that's causing it," Zuko mused. Katara pretended not to be offended. Water was her life, literally.

"But we've used the same water since the start of the illness and nothing's happened beside this," Katara argued. She kept her voice to a harsh whisper.

"No," Zuko stated, "the spring that supplied the water to the palace ran dry two days ago. The water we have now is from the river near town." Katara was silent, absorbing the information.

"What do we do?" she asked. She pulled Tsun into her lap and embraced her son gently. His breathing stilled slightly, his temperature had finally returned to completely normal. "I can't lose him." Zuko barely heard her words. He watched through golden eyes as three teardrops fell from her face. They dotted Tsun's clothing. He had not thought that she would feel so strongly about any of _their_ children. Tsun was almost a miniature him, aside from the scar. Zuko had heard Katara loved children from her brother, but he did not think her emotions would have this much sway over her being.

Katara sat on the bed with Tsun resting in her lap. His body looked so small and fragile next to her. The open window blew a gentle nighttime breeze into the room. Zuko brushed his hair from his eyes and took a seat on the edge of the bed instead of hovering over it like he had been doing.

He watched Katara take Tsun's hand in hers, her other hand moving to push his black hair from his face. Her brown hair hung free, she never bothered to tie it up at night before she slept. Zuko took a calming breath and placed his hand over hers. Katara looked up, tears glistening in her blue eyes.

"He'll get better," Zuko promised. Katara felt the warmth of his hand on hers. Firebender and waterbender remained silent for a moment; gold and blue locked in a familiar gaze. Seconds later it was broken and both of them turned to watch Tsun like the moment had never been shared. Zuko's hand remained wrapped around Katara's as they watched the sleeping prince.

-

The door to Tsun's room opened without a sound as Azula pushed it open. The sun had yet to rise, but it would at any second. The princess noticed movement on the bed. She stepped closer and held back a surprised laugh at what she saw. Katara lay on the right side of the bed; she faced Tsun who rested next to her on his back, her expression peaceful. The waterbender's left hand rested on the boy's stomach, almost as if she wanted to pull him closer. Azula saw his small fingers curled under hers. She smiled as her golden brown eyes saw what rested atop Katara's hand. Her brother's hand covered the waterbender's as they slept. Zuko mirrored Katara's position, only on the left side. Tsun lay between them, his small body the median that separated them. Azula left her previously suppressed laughter fill the room as she leaned against Tsun's bedpost at the foot of his bed for support. She would have hated to be caught dying of laughter on the floor. A pair of golden eyes flickered open and spotted her.

"Good morning Zuzu," Azula smiled, her voice carried a slight teasing tone to it, "did you two have a pleasant night?" Zuko followed his sister's eyes, his own widening when he realized what she meant. He slowly removed his hand from Katara's, trying to make it natural, and slid off the bed.

"What do you want Azula?" asked Zuko; the words escaped his mouth as a sigh.

"To collect my student," Azula shrugged, "he wanted to start learning the second set of stances today since he mastered the first ones. He'll be better then you in no time." She grinned.

"Tsun's sick Azula," Zuko stated, "I think-"

"Then get _her_ to heal him," Azula ordered. Her voice rose in volume. Zuko did not miss the acidic tone Azula used to address Katara.

"She tried," Zuko replied, "she's done everything she can."

"Some healer," Azula scuffed. She rolled her eyes to accentuate her point then added, "she seemed to have no problems healing you." Zuko's eye's narrowed. A noise turned the Fire Nation siblings' attention to the bed. Katara opened her eyes and lifted her arms to stretch. She stopped with her hands in the air when she noticed Azula. No greeting was passed between them. Katara let go of her son's hand and stood, her arms crossed over her chest as she neared them.

"Tell me when he gets better," Azula shrugged, "he'll have lots of training to make up." She walked from the room, closing the door quietly.

---

Katara flipped the page of the book she was reading. Tsun sat next to her. The scroll in his lap outlined simple firebending forms. The boy looked up when he heard his sisters both laughing outside in the courtyard. Katara watched him with sad eyes; she knew what he wanted to do.

"Can't I-?" he started to ask.

"No," came Katara's blunt reply.

"But mom," Tsun begged.

"You can't practice today," Katara said, "your father's busy."

"But what about-" Tsun began to ask.

"No," Katara said, her voice carried a sharp edge to it, "you still haven't recovered enough to practice with her."

"I'm fine!" Tsun yelled, he threw the scroll at the wall. He jumped to his feet and took a step towards Katara. "Why wouldn't you let me practice?! I'll never be as good as Dad!" Katara mentally strangled Azula for implanting the idea of being better then Zuko in her son's head. As the boy stormed around the room, books and papers flying in his wake, Katara was just happy to have him standing once more. He had remained ill, slipping in and out of consciousness for just over a week. The boy from Kasumi's class had recovered in half that time.

Katara closed her eyes to the destruction around her and tried to keep her emotions in check. She had hated the boy's mother for her luck. Not only did her son recover, but he was able to resume his firebending training. A year had passed since then; Tsun had yet to rediscover his original proficiency. He could still bend, but he grew tired quickly. His body simply could not keep up with his mind. The illness had passed after another month with the coming of the fall and winter rains. Everything had flooded, and the rivers and wells returned to feed the town. Katara watched Tsun collapse on the floor after throwing one final scroll at the wall. She set her book down and knelt beside him on the floor.

"Tsun," Katara patronized, "you shouldn't over exert yourself."

"I wasn't," he breathed, his breath was slightly labored, "I- just- wanted-"

"I know," Katara sighed. She wrapped her arms around the six-year-old. He returned her hug after a second's hesitation, his violent energy spent.

---

Kasumi and Tala ran around the courtyard circling the pond in a game of tag. The other children in Kasumi's class had left with their parents, so the game was not as fun as it had been before. The two boys were no longer in the same class as her; their parents had selected private tutors who doubled as bending teachers for them after the epidemic had passed. Only Kasumi and two of the girls remained as the original class. Other children their age had been added to the group from families of some of the lesser nobles; the class now consisted of seven students, three new boys and one new girl added to the original group. Construction had finally been started on the Academy building; the school would soon stand again to teach the children of the Fire Nation after almost fifteen years of being abandoned. Until then, the students would remain in the palace where the lessons had always been. After class ended, they had gathered in the courtyard to play. Even though they were all around the age of fourteen, like Kasumi, the group still enjoyed playing simple games like tag and hide-and-seek in the beautiful gardens.

Tala dodged her sister's outstretched hand, took a step to the left, and felt her foot step into the air. Her body plunged into the koi pond; the water erupted skyward in a fountain as she slipped under. Kasumi dropped to her knees at the water's edge and peered in. Tala surfaced a moment later and spit out a stream of water.

"Are you ok Tala?" asked Kasumi. She reached out her hand to her sister and pulled her from the water.

"I'm wet," Tala whined as she wiped the liquid from her face. Kasumi giggled and helped the nine-year-old wring out her hair. The sopping black mess had slipped from its bun while they played earlier and was plastered to the sides of her face.

"I hate getting wet," she frowned. Kasumi rolled her golden eyes and helped her sister to her feet.

"Let's go to your room and get some dry clothes," offered Kasumi. Tala nodded and wrapped her arms around her drenched body. The two girls walked from the courtyard and towards the wing where their bedrooms were. The sun began to cast shadows over the palace as they walked; day started to ebb away into night.

Kasumi looked to the sky, waiting. Her teacher had explained that tonight would mark the ending of a special astrological event. The past two nights had been filled with shooting stars; each night contained more stars then before. The star calendars predicted that tonight would be the final night with the most shooting stars in the sky. She had told her sister about it; Tala's excitement for the excuse to stay up had not surprised her.

"When are you gonna ask Mom?" Tala asked. Kasumi looked down at her feet as they walked. They entered the hallway where Tala's room was and she pushed open the door. Kasumi unfolded a new dress and helped Tala out of her wet one.

"Soon," she replied. Kasumi hid her fears that Katara would say no well enough so that Tala did not notice. Tala was used to Kasumi's silence; she talked enough for both of them. While Kasumi cared about what others thought of her and acted the way she was supposed to, Tala begged to be different. Kasumi adjusted Tala's dress and put the wet one on the window.

"Ok," Tala smiled, "then let's go find Tsun, maybe he wants to play!" Kasumi and Tala hurried from the room and down the hall to find their brother.

---

Tala pushed open the door to Kasumi's room. Her older sister never left the door open like Tsun and herself. Tala jumped onto the bed and bounced a few times, searching the room with her golden eyes for Kasumi. Tala landed on her stomach and lay still, propping her head up with her a pillow. She waited for only a minute until her sister appeared from her small closet.

"Ready?" asked Tala. Kasumi looked to her feet for a moment before returning her gaze to her sister's face and nodding. Tala rolled her eyes as she studied her sister's expression. The young girl stood and glided over to where Kasumi stood.

"You didn't ask, did you?" she frowned, disappointment in her voice.

"No," Kasumi replied.

"We're going anyway," Tala demanded, "I want to see the stars."

"We can watch them from the courtyard," offered Kasumi. She had no intention of breaking the rules when other options existed. Katara had made it clear only recently that none of them were allowed outside the palace walls unless Zuko or she was with them. Kasumi wondered why her mother had set such strict rules even during the day, not that she had ever wanted to break them. Everything she knew and loved was within her boundaries.

"No," Tala whinnied, "I want to go." Kasumi was silent for a moment. Tala always got her way; Kasumi hated to argue.

"Ok," Kasumi nodded, "but we can't tell anyone." Tala jumped up in excitement and pulled her sister out of the room.

The two girls sneaked outside to the outermost courtyard. The space was dark; most everyone had gone to sleep for the night. Footsteps alerted them to the guard's presence as the nightly rounds were made. The young princesses hid in a dying bush as a guard walked past, moving towards the open corridor to the next section of the palace. Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief that they were not discovered. Tala pulled on her hand and they headed for the gate.

"Tala," Kasumi whispered, "we can't go out the main gate, someone will see us."

"I know," I younger girl hissed. Kasumi wondered where her sister was taking her and let her lead the way. They walked through the northern wing of the palace, the oldest part of the building, their footsteps ringing against the stone floors. Tala led Kasumi to an old tapestry of some ancient Fire Lord long past and pulled the bottom left corner aside. A small wooden door was unveiled.

"Where does this lead?" asked Kasumi, "how do you know?"

"It goes to the stables," Tala grinned, "I have a lot of free time after my classes to explore." Kasumi sighed. Tala was not the type of girl to sit still and read a book or draw in the library. The fact that Tala's classes were shorter then Kasumi's and that Tsun was usually off doing other things did not ease her restless mind. Kasumi had half expected her answer from the beginning. Tala had explored every corner of the palace by the time she could walk and get away from her babysitters when Katara was busy. Now at eight, she knew most of the hidden passages that the building was riddled with. Tala enjoyed walking the palace alone, her adventures usually led her to secret, unused rooms filled with dust, but sometimes she uncovered a prime location for overhearing gossip. Once Kasumi showed an interest in those spots, Tala was more than happy to take her sister on her explorations. The middle child had no attention for sitting and listening to the other women gossip in the gardens. Kasumi wondered if her sister even knew that their parents and them were the subject of the talk. Either way, Tala never sat and listened to what was said; she simply brought Kasumi to the spot and disappeared down another one of her discovered secret passages.

Tala pushed a bale of hay to the side and stepped into the aisle of the barn. Built up against the northern wall of the palace for an easy escape route if the palace should have ever been attacked to the point where the Fire Lord would need to flee, the stable seemed the only answer to getting outside without being seen. Tala petted an ostrich-horse on the nose and steered clear of the kimono-rhino pens. One of the ostrich-horses opened its black eyes and watched the two girls pass the stalls.

"It smells in here," Kasumi said, wrinkling her nose as the smells assaulted her. Tala laughed and pushed open the door that led to the outside. One of the rhinos grunted as it started to wake up from its slumber.

"Shhh…" Tala panicked as she put a finger to her lips to silence Kasumi. Tala hated the kimono-rhinos with a true fear unlike one Kasumi had ever seen. There was no reason for it. Kasumi had ridden one of the creatures before with Zuko when she was still very little and found they were quite easy to ride. She could not imagine why Tala would fear the bulky animals; they were quite placid. Tala's fear passed as she shut the door between her and the sleeping animals and pulled Kasumi into the night to meet the other members in her class.

-

The sight had not disappointed any of the students as they watched. Shooting stars fell by the dozen from the black sky. The absence of Katara or Zuko had been the first question that many of the noblewomen asked the two girls when they had arrived without their parents or even a servant or guard as an escort. Kasumi politely explained that their parents trusted them and they had stayed home. The discussion was dropped and everyone's attention turned skyward.

Tala and Kasumi walked through the barn to return to bed. It was past midnight. Kasumi pulled open the hidden door in the wall behind the piled bales of hay, waiting for Tala. Her younger sister had stopped to pet the horse that before had wanted her attention.

"Come on Tala," Kasumi called. Her whispered voice carried across the aisle without making too much noise. Tala sighed and jumped down to the ground. Her feet landed on the ground without so much as a sound. Kasumi stepped through the door and held it open for her sister.

Suddenly an explosion shook the room. Tala's golden eyes went wide as the fence that made up the rhino pen gave way and the frightened animals galloped towards her. Tongues of flame licked the wall where the sound had come from. Tala raced towards the door her sister held open. Kasumi turned and sprinted up the hallway, her hand just missing her sister's wrist as she turned to pull her with her. The momentum of her lunge did not allow her to stop and wait when she missed her hand and she moved forward. Ancient suits of armor made for Fire Lords long past stood silently as she sprinted along the corridor. Someone had to have heard the noise. Kasumi watched the shiny armor glint in the torch light as she ran by. Another noise shook the walls. Kasumi heard tumbling stones and wood on the floor. The tapestry fluttered to the ground as the wall supporting it gave way. She saw her sister's reflection amidst the chaos.

Tala practically flew down the hallway, a pair of frightened rhinos at her heels. The wall between the barn and the palace had been decimated by their brute strength. The animals feared what they did not understand, and they had no idea what had woken them up in the middle of the night. What they did know, was that fire was bad, and there was fire in the barn. Kasumi ducked around the first corner and curled up, her back to the wall, her knees to her chest, her head on her knees, her fingers interlaced between each other to keep her body in a safe little ball. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she sat shaking.

A scream filled the hallway where before only the grunts of the kimono-rhinos could be heard. One of the rhinos galloped past Kasumi's hiding spot, running straight down the hallway. After a moment, Kasumi watched the second one follow it from the corner of her eye. She looked up. She had not seen her sister run past. The red reflection in the armor across from where she sat made her breath catch in her throat.

"Tala," breathed Kasumi. She peeked around the corner and saw her sister on the ground. On shaky feet, Kasumi rose and stumbled to where her sister lay broken. A pool of crimson blood had just begun to form under her chest. Kasumi fought back the urge to throw up and reached out to smooth away Tala's hair from her partly visible face.

"Tala," Kasumi sobbed, her voice cracking as tears formed behind her golden eyes. She heard voices from the wall where the barn used to be behind. Something inside her mind drove her to scurry behind one of the suits of armor. Two women appeared from the hole in the wall. Kasumi recognized them. She began to reveal her hiding spot until the first woman's words stopped her.

"Where's the other one?" she demanded. Her tone frightened Kasumi.

"She probably got away," replied the second woman. She stooped, gathered her dress in her left hand to keep it clean from Tala's blood, and reached out to grab the girl's shoulder. Kasumi watched her roll her sister onto her back. Blood smeared the princess' clothing from a deep gash in her chest. Kasumi pulled her eyes from the injury and took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. The woman laid a hand to Tala's neck, "She's dead. One of the rhino's must have rammed its horn through her chest."

_Dead._ The word rang in Kasumi's ears; Tala was dead; her sister was gone. Kasumi felt her breathing increase and her heart rate skyrocket. Those two women had to have heard it; the pounding hurt her chest as she closed her golden eyes.

"The brats gave us the perfect chance tonight," the first woman said, "they had no escort to watch them. Your idea was perfect; grain is highly explosive and one of the stalls near the rhino pen was stacked with old sacks of it. All the air needed was a small flame and the stall exploded. The rhinos did the rest."

"But we only succeeded halfway," the woman who confirmed Tala's death stated. Kasumi's breathing stopped. The woman had admitted to trying to kill her and her sister Tala. "The older girl-"

"If I have any reason to believe she told anyone about who did it," the first woman said, "I'll kill her too, along with her brother if I need to." Kasumi's heart stopped. The women had to have known she could hear them. They wanted to have a reason to kill her. Kasumi's mind was in too much of a fuzz to think clearly. She sat in her hiding spot for what felt like hours until the two women were long gone and a guard appeared. He paused at the sight of Tala's bloody body and turned the way he came, calling out for help. Kasumi curled up into a ball and cried.

-

"She's down this hallway," stuttered a voice. Footsteps rang along the corridor as metal chinked in the background. Kasumi heard a gasp and knew who had entered the hallway. She lifted her head, her eyes red from her silent crying. Two guards had stopped halfway down the hall. Katara and Zuko, both roused from their sleep, stood behind them horror struck. Katara's hand covered her open mouth as she realized what the scene before her meant.

"Tala!" cried Katara. She rushed to her daughter's side and knelt beside her. The young princess' ivory skin was already cold to the touch. The blood, still wet around the child's body, seeped into Katara's clothing. Zuko appeared at Katara's side and bent to smooth the child's hair from her still face.

"When did this happen?" asked Zuko. He watched Katara lift Tala's body onto her lap while tears streamed from her blue eyes down her face.

"How did this happen?" Zuko demanded again. His golden eyes held more ferocity then Kasumi had thought possible as she glanced towards him. The guards shuddered under his gaze and looked to their feet.

"It was a Kimono-rhino attack," he explained, "the two rhinos were found in one of the courtyards. We still have not found princess Kasumi, but prince Tsun is asleep in his bed and safe from harm." Zuko and Katara were silent, letting the news sink in. Kasumi crawled out from behind the suit of armor and stumbled to her parents.

"Mom, Dad," she half whispered, half cried. Katara and Zuko turned at the sound of her voice.

"Kasumi," Katara smiled weakly. A new wave of tears flowed fresh down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her eldest daughter, "I'm so glad you're safe." Only Kasumi heard her mother's words. She cried into Katara's shoulder and felt a warm hand on her arm. She knew it was Zuko's.

"I'm so sorry," sobbed Kasumi.

"What happened?" asked Zuko slowly. Kasumi refused to answer as the two women's threats echoed in her mind. She simply buried her face in her mother's clothing with her sobbing. Zuko let the question go, he would find out soon enough.

Katara let Kasumi go and rose to her feet as the two guards collected Tala's body and gently carried her down the hallway. Zuko watched Katara as she took Kasumi's hand. He followed behind the guards, Katara and Kasumi behind him. They walked from the hallway until the guards carrying Tala turned left. Katara and Kasumi hesitated at the turn. Zuko paused and put a hand on Kasumi's shoulder. He met Katara's eyes with his own.

"Why don't you go check on Tsun," he suggested. Katara nodded and slowly moved down the hallway in the direction of the bedrooms. She moved like a ghost. The complete shock had yet to set in, but the initial feelings of loss were making their feelings known. Zuko watched her disappear down the hallway and turned to follow the guards. He'd give Katara a while with Kasumi. He needed time on his own anyway.

Katara and Kasumi moved slowly down the hallway. Kasumi leaned against the wall and slid to the floor as she wiped her tears away. Katara pushed open the door to Tsun's room and peered inside. She watched him turn over as he slept in his bed and closed the door. Katara was silent.

"Mom," mumbled Kasumi. She glanced up and down the hallway like she used to do when she was little. Only now, instead of monsters, she was searching for anyone who was watching her. Katara was silent. She wiped the tears from her blue eyes and knelt beside Kasumi; she would be strong for her. The girl watched her mother.

"What happened Kasumi?" asked Katara. Kasumi buried her face in her knees and shook her head.

"Why where you two there?" asked Katara. Kasumi shook her head again and refused to answer, she did not want to end up like Tala. The sight of her younger sister lying motionless covered in a pool of blood would remain frozen her mind forever. It was not fair; Tala had not deserved this.

"Why won't you tell me?" begged Katara, "I don't blame you." Katara took her daughter's shoulders gently in her hands and lifted them so their eyes met.

"I can't," whispered Kasumi. She let her tears blur her vision as she shook her head and her sobbing brew louder.

"What?" asked Katara, "you can tell me Kasumi. What happened?"

"No," Kasumi stuttered, "I'll… they'll… like T-Tala…"

"_Who _will?" whispered Katara. Her voice took on a deadly tone and fell to the same volume as her daughter's. Kasumi's eyes darted down the hall, even though her tears obscured her sight. Katara followed the child's vision and tried to understand her broken words through her sobbing.

"It's just you and me Kasumi," Katara tried to reassure her, "no one else is here." After a second's thought she added, "no one can hear you except for me." Kasumi searched the hallway with her eyes once more, and then looked up to Katara. Her mother's expression held more worry then it had before.

"You can tell me," she promised, "no one else will know." Kasumi sniffled and threw herself into Katara's arms. She put her lips to her mother's ear and stuttered through the night's events. Anyone who passed by would think the child had latched onto her mother for comfort and was simply crying. Only Katara's expression gave it away that something more was occurring. When the story had been retold, Katara gripped Kasumi tighter in her embrace. She promised her, her blurry eyes fresh with hot tears in a whisper, "I won't let anything happen to you Kasumi, I promise."

"And Tsun?" asked Kasumi, "him too?"

"Tsun too," Katara amended. Kasumi smiled through her tears then closed her eyes as a new thought crossed her mind.

"You can't tell anyone," she cried in a whisper, "I don't want t-to…" she cut off her words and sobbed uncontrollably into Katara's shoulder. Katara tried their best to comfort her, but her crying continued into the night. By dawn, the two of them were silent, leaning against the wall by Tsun's door, asleep…

-

A week passed since Tala's death before Katara could leave Kasumi's side for at least a moment. Her daughter had not spoken to anyone in that time, her wants conveyed through her gentle tugging at Katara's sleeves. The girl seemed to have reverted back to her childlike attitude, silent and shy. She no longer wanted to be alone and her smiles came less frequently than before. Katara kept her promise and told no one about what Kasumi had relayed to her, hoping to gently coax the young princess back to life.

The realization of her daughter's death finally hit her hard. After Tala's funeral Katara locked herself in the master bedroom. She only opened the door to let Kasumi in. Zuko had tried and failed to coax her out the first two days, but she had spent them in tears on the bed. Kasumi was silent as an owl as she watched her mother, her own tears and emotions already spent. Katara finally allowed Zuko to cajole her back into the normal routine by the fourth day.

Now she walked alone through one of the courtyards in the completed south wing of the palace. The open space burst with flowers of almost every color while sweet fragrances hung into the air. The garden only grew flowers for beauty, none of them held any medicinal value, much to Katara's displeasure. She was searching for something to help a rough cough; Tsun had developed one this morning. The physicians suggested tea and it calmed his coughing for a short time. Now, in late afternoon, his coughing was rougher then it had been before. Katara hoped he did not fall ill again, she was not sure if his body could handle being ill again; she knew _she_ could not handle him dying. She brushed the thoughts from her mind and knelt to pick a purple flower with red rimed petals.

She felt someone else enter the garden and turned her head to see who it was. She expected Zuko to be standing where the man had positioned himself. She was wrong. She instantly recognized him as the shorter of the two men who represented the Fire Nation at the court meetings, but his name escaped her. He gave a short bow and took a step closer to where Katara knelt. She rose; the flower twirled in her fingers as she rolled the stem back and forth.

"Your highness," he greeted. Katara only nodded. She wondered what he wanted. There were no meetings today that she had neglected to attend, and he had already offered his condolences at Tala's funeral. He inclined his head again and began to walk past her. She relaxed in realizing he had only gone for a walk and run into her. The moment he was parallel to her he spoke.

"I know she told you," were his words. Katara hesitated; her grip on the flower tightened.

"What?" Katara mumbled. She turned to face the man. He turned only his head and glanced in her direction.

"I know Princess Kasumi told you who killed her sister," he clarified. Katara's heart stopped. The man watched her reaction and smiled.

"According to some, she has forfeited her life and the prince's as well with her decision," he said as he glared at Katara.

"No," breathed Katara, "you-" She took a step forward and reached for her water skin at her hip. Her hands fumbled when they did not find the intended object. It took her a moment to remember that she had not needed her water skin in over fourteen years, since the war ended. It was buried somewhere with her old clothing in a set of drawers in her room. The threat of danger pulled the reflex to the forefront of her mind. She had to remind herself to find it again.

"_I_ would never do anything harm them, but if I know without being there when she told you, others might learn the same information just as easy," he explained, "and they might not be so _caring_." He turned and faced Katara.

"Oh, but before I bring up another subject at the meeting tomorrow, I thought I would warn you."

"What?" asked Katara. The speed and ease at which he changed the subject had surprised her.

"The prince has fallen ill again," the man stated blankly, "his health is on the entire nation's mind. As much as my partner and I want the prince to recover his strength from his sickness-"

"It's just a cough," Katara interjected.

"From his cough," clarified the man. His face wrinkled at the interruption, "we feel it might be better if there was a stronger heir to take the throne."

"I won't give up on Tsun," Katara stated, her blue eyes narrowed dangerously, "if you don't see him fit, Kasumi is.

"But the law," the man gently reminded her.

"You made the law," Katara snapped, "you can change it back!" She closed the gap between them with three steps and glared down at him.

"Remember also, I could relay what I know to someone who would fulfill the threat, and then you'd _need _another heir. Either way, you'd-" he spoke, an evil grin came to his face.

"But then I'd know you were responsible for their deaths," Katara pointed out.

"But you'd have no proof. The crime could never be traced to me. Even if you could somehow manage to get me under trial, I would walk away without much damage," the man shrugged, "while you may be Fire Lord Zuko's wife, I doubt he would choose defending your opinion of me over world peace." The man paused to let his insult sink in. "As I said, either way the nation needs a strong heir to take the throne." He turned and walked away, leaving Katara to her thoughts.

---

Zuko looked up as the door to the library opened. Katara stepped through the threshold and met Zuko's eyes. With one look he knew she had been searching for him.

"He threatened their lives," growled Katara. The door threatened to come loose as she slammed it shut. Zuko rose and put the scroll he had been reading aside. He needed to be prepared for the meeting tomorrow, but Katara seemed more riled then possible.

"Who threatened whose life?" Zuko asked. In his mind he had already eliminated several possibilities. It could not be any of the nobles; Katara was never interested in any of their gossip.

"_Your_ representative at the court meetings," Katara stated, "I can't remember his name, but he threatened Kasumi and Tsun's lives." Her blue eyes held the sparks of fiery anger. Zuko let his confusion show through on his face as he watched Katara. He never let anyone else see through his mask like he did for her.

"How?" asked Zuko.

"He threatened to let some of the nobles know that Kasumi told me what happened… during… T-Tala's d-d-death," Katara found herself stuttering, "if-if…" Zuko paused. He waited a moment for Katara to finish as he tried to piece together what she had just said.

"If what?" Zuko finally asked. He took a step closer.

"If we don't have a 'stronger heir'," Katara whispered. She met Zuko's eyes. He noticed her cerulean orbs were duller then before. It was almost like her life was being stripped away from her piece by piece.

"He went to you first without bringing it up tomorrow?" Zuko mused slowly.

"He said he wanted to _warn_ me," Katara hissed, "like I really could do anything to change this. Why is this man so adamant at giving the country a strong heir to take control? Your mother didn't have to go through this; there's only you and Azula!" Katara's anger softened as she spoke, tears filling her eyes. Her emotion had so great a grip on her she forgot to use her angry tone she reserved for talking about Zuko's sister. Zuko noticed, but said nothing.

"Why me?" asked Katara.

"It's not just you," Zuko offered. He had a sudden inclination to reach out and comfort her. He refrained, unsure whether she would act grateful or irate at the contact. Katara brushed the gathered tears in her eyes away before they could fall.

"But what do we do?" asked Katara, "I won't let anyone hurt Kasumi or Tsun."

"Tsun is an acceptable heir, the court can't say anything otherwise," Zuko stated.

"And his threat?" asked Katara. Some of Zuko's assuredness had rubbed off onto her.

"What did he say exactly?" asked Zuko. He listened while Katara explained again that he had threatened to tell the nobles who would take Tsun and Kasumi's lives because the princess told her who killed Tala if they did not have another child.

"Either way that we choose, the court would get their wish," Zuko sighed. At Katara's confused gaze, he clarified, "I doubt he hasn't already shared this with the rest of the members."

"So, how do we respond?" asked Katara. Zuko was silent. They both knew that either way, their actions would be dictated, one path just involved less heartbreak. Blue met gold as they both came to the same conclusion. Zuko knew Katara could not handle the loss of either of her children, let alone both. Katara looked to the floor, her tears had vanished, she was going to protect Kasumi and Tsun no matter what it put her though.

The door was shoved open and a ruffled servant poked her head into the room. Katara and Zuko turned to watch her fumble through a nervous curtsy before she began speaking in a quick, nervous voice.

"You highnesses, the prince's fever had gotten worse, we've confined him to his bed and need you there now!" she panicked.

"Tsun!" Katara cried as she rushed from the room; Zuko followed in her wake leaving the servant even more jumbled then before.

* * *

Dun dun dun… I'm so evil… :( The next chapter is where the real action begins! I can't wait! Tell me what you think so far…

**Reviews make me really happy**! Not that I'm getting any aside from one great reader… Really people, come on, don't you want to tell me what you like and dislike about the story? Aside from the heartbreak that I'm putting Katara through, I hope you like it!


	4. She Walked Away

**I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender**…

The title of the chapter is named after a song by **Barlow Girl **called** She Walked Away**. The song was the inspiration for this chapter and since I wanted to write this chapter it was the reason I wrote this entire Fanfiction! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

once again the spaces between paragraphs are now (- -)

* * *

Chapter 4) _She Walked Away_

Katara walked down the hallway towards the dining room in the palace where dinner was about to be served. She had already sent Kasumi to go and tell Tsun to come and eat. The girl had only nodded at her request. Kasumi had yet to speak since she told her the secret she was supposed to keep less than nine months ago. Katara moved down the hall at a faster pace, each step brining her closer to her still thriving family. No harm had come to Tsun or Kasumi; Katara rested her hand on her enlarged stomach. At eight and half months pregnant, the young prince and princess had no reason to fear their lives would be ended by some hired assassin – or however those women would have done it.

Katara sighed as the door came into view and she heard Tsun's rough cough. The boy, now seven and a half, had suffered from two more colds and some illness that caused him to have trouble breathing for a week since the new baby's conception. The waterbender took her seat and was glad to rest her feet. She looked at the food on her plate and then to the others at the table. She was surprised to see Zuko watching her. He seemed to be overly busy within the past year and hardly ever joined them for meals. Kasumi and Tsun watched the silent exchange between their parents; Tsun shrugged it off, but Kasumi stared at her mother, her golden eyes trying to decipher the unspoken language.

"Mom," Tsun said. He coughed loudly between his words, "when can I start practicing again?" Katara was silent. She watched him carefully. He had just recovered from a bought with a cold, but his coughing remained. His breathing _seemed_ even, but he had mastered faking health so he could play outside with the other children. Katara would have inwardly grinned at the irony of it; normally, children faked illness, yet Tsun faked healthiness.

"When your father is free, you can practice," Katara responded as she nibbled on the noodles in her bowl. Her appetite came and went; tonight it seemed to have gone missing.

"But dad's always busy," Tsun complained even though Zuko sat only a few feet away, "why won't you let me practice with-"

"No," Zuko interrupted. He knew Tsun wanted his sister to resume her teaching. She had been a good teacher when Tsun was healthy and up to her challenges, now he doubted she would have any patience with him. Apparently Tsun disagreed. He pouted and played with the food in front of him, a frown marring his childish features. The four ate in silence until almost all their food had been finished. Katara noticed Kasumi staring in her direction, as if she had something to share but could not find the words for it, if she would talk.

"What is it Kasumi?" questioned Katara. She could usually read her daughter's face, but her expression puzzled her this time. Zuko sighed.

"She's probably thinking about the meeting today," Zuko spoke. Katara raised an eyebrow in confusion. She knew the court had requested Kasumi come to the meeting this afternoon, but she had not been informed why.

"How was it Kasumi?" asked Katara. The fifteen-year-old princess flushed slightly then let a frown come over her face. She slowly turned to look at Zuko and then Katara, cool indifference and the want to please clashing in her golden eyes. Katara was surprised for the second time that night with her daughter's expressions. She could read the embarrassment followed by her displeasure at whatever topic had been discussed, but her final expression had confused Katara. She read it as if Kasumi showed no preference to give her opinion on the matter and would follow whatever her parents said without a sound. Katara drew a blank for what the matter at hand had been.

"What was the meeting about?" asked Katara. She spoke to Zuko as Tsun excused himself from the table. Kasumi sat, even though she could not add to the conversation, she wanted to hear her mother's opinion. Zuko hesitated, unsure at Katara's reaction.

"Marriage," he finally stated. It was a good thing that Katara had finished eating, or she would have dropped her bowl in shock.

"_Kasumi's_ marriage?" Katara questioned. She would have jumped to her feet, but it would be slightly difficult in her present condition, "she's only fifteen!"

"Girls get married younger than her," Zuko sighed as he closed his eyes.

"They do in the watertribe too," Katara stated, "but still-"

"You were her age," Zuko said gently. His golden eyes refused to meet Katara's blue ones.

"I didn't have a choice!" Katara shouted, "I don't want Kasumi in the same situation as me!"

"The court has decided already," Zuko said, malice laced in his voice, "none of us have any say in the matter." Katara shoved her chair away from the table. She rose and moved as swiftly as she could from the room. The child she carried now, for all she complained, was the smallest one. Her clothing was large; pockets of empty space for her expanding body would probably never be filled. Kasumi, Tsun, and Tala had all been born in just a little over nine months. If this child stuck with the pattern, it would be born in next three to four weeks. For as much as Katara complained with this baby, she looked nowhere near as pregnant as she had before. She could hardly move when she carried Tsun for his last months. She felt now, if she was pressed to, she could manage some slightly complex water bending stances.

She stopped and leaned against the wall near an open window enjoying the early spring breeze. She sat on a small chair that someone had neglected to return to the library and contemplated what was happening. Kasumi and Tsun would be headed to bed soon. Zuko would probably be in the library before heading to their room within the next two hours. Katara had no urge to sleep; she had taken a long nap earlier in the day and was still awake. None-the-less she headed to the bedroom she shared with Zuko and leaned on the windowsill. The moon had risen a short while ago, slowly moving to its zenith in the sky. Its crescent shape opened upwards, reminding Katara of her tribe's saying that it meant good oceans for sailing. An upside down crescent moon meant the water would be rough. The memory brought a smile to Katara's lips, some new light to her eyes. She sat on the wide window ledge and braided her long, brown hair while watching the moon rise.

Katara was unsure for how long her task of braiding and unbraiding her hair only to re-braid it again consumed her. The moon had just reached the apex of its nighttime journey when two voices floated up to her. Katara leaned over the windowsill to hear them better.

"Did you hear?" asked one voice. It sounded like a young woman who was speaking.

"About what?" asked an older voice. Katara guessed they belonged to two of the servants of the palace.

"The princess is getting married!" the first woman said happily.

"It's about time," muttered the second woman. Katara looked down into the courtyard to try and see who exactly was speaking. The grass was bathed in candlelight from some open windows on the first floor under the room, and the small balcony obscured anyone directly below her window.

"How old is the princess now, sixteen?" asked the older woman.

"I think she just turned fifteen," the first woman whispered. Katara wondered how these women heard about the marriage, but she was glad they decided they decided to stop under her window. She had not bothered to light the candles, so they must have thought the room was empty.

"Who's she getting married to?" asked the older woman.

"My friend was unsure, but I heard from someone else it might be the boy from the family that visited last year right before the drought. They spend most of their time on Ember Island, but if he's the same boy, I pity the poor girl; he may be an excellent firebender, but he doesn't seem very polite. He's got a few years on her too. He might be seventeen or eighteen now.

"That girl will probably need a strong husband being raised by that mother of hers," the second woman stated bluntly.

"Hush!" the younger woman panicked, "don't say bad things of the lady. It won't be looked upon too kindly if you're heard." The two women stepped out from under Katara's window and moved across the courtyard. Their words had left Katara silent. She now knew who Kasumi's would be husband was, more or less. She remembered the boy the two women had talked about from when his noble family had visited the palace to talk with Zuko. She could imagine the dreadful situation; him, strong willed and used to getting what he wanted paired with her silent, shy daughter who was so obedient it almost hurt Katara to watch her. Kasumi would be miserable and Katara could think of no way to save her from this horrible fate. Katara looked to the moon, hoping Yue could give her some ideas. The boat-like moon triggered a memory of long ago.

_The whole village had gathered outside the snow walls protecting the tribe. Aang and Katara stood surrounded by the children who had run to greet Aang; they probably wanted him to give them rides on his glider or play with Appa with him. Katara heard her brother shout for them to come back and they listened with sullen expressions on their small faces. _

"_The foreigner is banished from our village," Sokka continued. Aang looked more disappointed that the children were sad then the fact he was no longer welcome. Katara frowned at her brother. She told him he was making a mistake. Sokka disagreed with her and mentioned something about his promise to Dad. Katara could not see how her brother saw Aang as the enemy. The enemy was the Fire Nation, not Aang. Aang was just a young boy who happened to be an Air Nomad, the race in which no one had seen in over a century. Why couldn't her brother see that all Aang had done was bring joy back to their little tribe. All Sokka cared about was fighting; he had been obsessed with being a better warrior ever since the others had left to go fight, leaving him behind._

_Katara looked to Gran Gran and asked her to tell Sokka he was making a mistake. When she refused to admit that Sokka was wrong and that she agreed with his decision, Katara's clenched her fists in her gloves and shouted._

"_Fine, then I'm banished too!" Katara turned and pulled Aang towards Appa. Her voice held hints of choked back emotion as she said, "come on Aang let's go!" Sokka was furious with her decision. Katara did not show any sign that she cared._

"_Where do you think you're going!" he shouted after her._

"_To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole," Katara said as she looked to Aang while she pulled him along. Aang looked up in confusion._

"_I am?" he asked. He realized what she had said and smiled, "great!"_

"_Katara!" Sokka shouted. Something in his voice made Katara stop and drop Aang's hand. They both turned around to look back at the tribe. They all stood watching, Sokka in front of them. _

"_Would you really choose _him, _over your tribe?" asked Sokka. Katara looked back to Appa. Sokka's voice sounded hurt as he continued, "your own family?" Katara stood, her blue eyes closed, her back to her brother and her whole village. She opened them as Aang walked up to her. She turned to him._

"_Katara," he said, "I don't want to come between you and your family." Katara guessed that family was a big deal to him. She watched him walk away towards Appa. She took a step forward and stopped. After a brief goodbye she watched Aang and Appa walk away._

Katara had decided that running away would solve everything. It was only because Aang had told her to stay that she did. Aang had not wanted anything to come between her and her family. Would he feel the same now? There was no way she could help Kasumi, unless she turned her back on everything she had worked for the last fifteen years and run away. The peace of the world would fall apart if the smoke and mirrors hiding her relationship with Zuko fell away. The peace that Aang had worked to restore, that she had worked to keep, would be gone when the court realized she was gone.

Katara's blue eyes shown with renewed determination; she would protect her children, _they_ were her family. Only one questioned buzzed in Katara's mind. Could she get out of the Fire Nation with two children in tow and a third on the way? Before, she had run towards something: becoming a master waterbender- even if it had been the first thing that popped into her mind. She knew where she was headed if she went: the North Pole, and she knew how she was going to get there: Appa. She had nothing now. How would she get to where ever she was headed? The moonlight shifted and an idea came to her. Good sailing, a boat, the Southern Water Tribe! The plan sounded perfect in Katara's mind; she would return home after almost sixteen years. She just had to convince Tsun to come, Kasumi would come without complaint.

Katara stood and opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. She pulled out her water skin which she had dug out of her old things and a draw-string pack. She packed it full of clothing, she could not think of anything else they would need on a boat. She remembered to grab an assortment of coins, gold being the predominant color, and let them roll into the pocket on her cloak. She mentally praised herself for having it made a few years back so she could go walking outside at night in the winter. Not that the Fire Nation got cold, but it kept out the rain and the chill nicely. It would be perfect for sailing. She pulled the thick fabric over her arm and frowned when she remembered it was heavily embroidered. Even if she turned it inside out, the expert stitching and waterproofed material would have people asking questions once she was outside the city.

Katara sighed but held onto the cloak as she hurried towards Kasumi's room. She opened the door to find her daughter blowing out the candles to get ready to sleep. At her entrance Kasumi paused, her lips puckered to blow out the last few flames.

"Kasumi, help me pack some of your clothes," Katara said, she added, "we're going to take a trip." Kasumi's golden eyes lit up the pleasant surprise and she jumped up to help her mother pack some of her clothes into another bag. After changing and slipping on some shoes, Kasumi and Katara made their way to Tsun's room. The boy was already asleep. Katara touched him gently on the shoulder as a cough spasmed through his body. He looked up at her touch.

"Mom?" he asked, still half asleep.

"Tsun, get up," Katara said gently. She lifted him into a sitting position by pulling on his shoulders; his head bobbed slightly.

"Why?" he asked more coherently. Katara saw he was fully awake now and fought to come up with a good reason.

"Why is Kasumi here?" asked Tsun.

"We're taking a trip," Katara explained, "you need to pack." He looked at her through the darkness for a moment before an idea sparked in his eyes. He smiled and jumped from his bed to gather up a pile of the type of clothing Katara insisted on. With his bag packed he grabbed his cloak and smiled; he almost radiated excitement.

Katara noticed upon leaving Tsun's room that Kasumi would need a cloak or something similar to wear. Tsun only had one to try and protect him whenever there was a chance it would get cold so he would not get sick again. As they walked past the kitchen in an effort to steer clear of the areas of the palace that would probably have people around, Katara grinned at her luck. Five plain, brown traveling cloaks hung silently from their pegs outside the kitchen door. The cooks and other workers could not have them in the kitchen in case they caught on fire. Katara grabbed three of them and handed one to Tsun and one to Kasumi. She slipped the remaining one on over her own. Kasumi mimicked her mother's actions and buttoned the front to keep it from falling. The sleeves were large, hiding her hands in their lengths.

"Put it on over yours Tsun," Katara said when her son hesitated. He frowned but soon complied, pulling the flaps across his shirt and crossing his arms over them to keep them from coming undone instead of buttoning it closed. The three of them slowly made their way to the edge of the palace ground. Most of the rooms and hallways were dark, but Katara had walked the building enough to know her way around without light. The memory of sneaking through the palace at night brought tears to Kasumi's eyes as she thought of Tala. Katara noticed, but said nothing.

After slipping out a window that led behind a row of bushes, Katara led her two children into the shadows cast by the buildings in the market. The only door that led to the outside was the main gate and the servant's entrance, which had a posted guard as well; that only left windows.

The moon watched them depart, yet it was not the only witness. Golden eyes silently followed their movements until they became one with the shadows from a second story hallway window. Zuko made no move to take any action; he simply stared at the spot where the three of them had disappeared. He turned away from the open window to the sound of footsteps on a thick rug behind him. His expression did not change as he locked gazes with his sister, an amused grin on her face.

"You're not going to stop her?" Azula asked, she seemed generally curious with her brother's actions. Her voice turned spiteful, "what would the court say about this?" Zuko was silent for a moment.

"She's lucky," Zuko said as he turned back to the window. He had ignored Azula's question.

"She won't get far you know," Azula said as she rolled her golden brown eyes, "and the blame will fall to you for letting her go."

"They don't know that," Zuko said.

"They'll assume," Azula sighed, "they don't have much patience for you." Zuko continued to watch the dark city from the window. The crescent moon meant little to him as it bathed the rooftops in gentle moonlight.

"You don't give her enough credit Azula, she'll get farther than you think," Zuko said. Azula frowned and shrugged her shoulders in an uninterested manner. She turned away from her brother and began making her way towards her bedroom. Zuko heard her next comment without much difficultly.

"She's taking two children with her, how far can she _really_ get?" Azula mused.

---

Tsun and Kasumi followed their mother down to the dock. Neither of them had ever been this far from the palace. They did not voice their concern out loud, but Katara could feel their tenseness behind her. As they reached the dock, Katara noticed a small crowd, peasants and nobles alike gathered around one man giving directions. Keep her blue eyes to the ground Katara joined the mass. It was past midnight, and Katara could see no reason for all these people to be waiting at the dock. The lower class citizens in the throng were dressed similarly to Katara and her children; they wore long brown cloaks and milled about quietly. The few nobles in the crowd were easily distinguished by their boisterous and argumentative voices and their beautifully embroidered cloaks. Most of the nobles were men, but a few couples stood back and kept to themselves. Katara grabbed Kasumi's hand in her own and slowly wove her way towards the action. The man who seemed to be answering all the questions appeared to be the dock master. As Katara neared him she heard him respond to an angrier nobleman's question.

"The boat is almost ready to set sail," the dock master said, "one of the sails needed to be repaired before it could depart. The men have almost completed the task. You will be able to board soon.

"I need to be at Whale Tail Island next week," the man complained, "the boat has been delayed for almost half a day now. I'll surely be put behind."

"The captain apologizes but the repair must be complete," the dock master stated. His hair looked silver grey in the moonlight as he turned away from the man and walked into Katara.

"Excuse me," he apologized as he stepped around Kasumi to pass them by. Katara hesitated then called out to him.

"Sir!" she shouted. He turned to look at Katara and she averted her eyes to the ground. She would hate to be caught now without even getting off the mainland; her blue eyes would give her away in a second, "is this ship headed to Whale Tail Island?"

"Yes it is," the dock master nodded, "the delay will be over shortly."

"Is there still open-" Katara paused in her question. What would normal travelers call the spots on a boat? She had always traveled with Aang, Sokka, and Toph on Appa. Would the boat have rooms and a bed? Now that she thought about it, she could not even see the boat docked in the harbor.

"The boat still has rooms for more passengers," the dock master answered, "I'll inform the caption to confirm that there are still openings." He looked to the two children linked to Katara by hand and turned to inform the other passengers that the wait would be over soon enough. Katara sighed; she lifted her blue eyes and watched the moon over the inlet.

- -

The boat arrived sometime within the next hour. Each moment that passed made Katara more uneasy; she needed to get on the boat and get on the water. Only then would she feel safe. The boat turned out to be a beautiful craft made for the luxury of transporting passengers through the lands. Katara let herself smile as she saw a blue flag flying just below the Fire Nation's own red one on the tallest mast. Beneath them, a green and a yellow flag for the Earth Kingdom and the Air Nomads, which consisted wholly of Aang now, flew proudly. The dock master kept his promise and led Katara aboard to find the captain to see if there were still any rooms to stay in. The captain met them on one of the upper decks.

"We only have one room left," the man stated. He looked at the brown cloaks that hung around Katara, Kasumi, and Tsun's shoulders and sighed, "it might be out of your budget though, it's a high-class room."

"How much?" asked Katara. She knew she could afford it; the only question was should she? Would pulling out a handful of gold coins alert anyone's suspicions? She decided it would be better to be in the fancy room them to be cramped with the other passengers and have her identity revealed to them if she refused to pay.

"The week's journey will be twenty gold coins," the man said. Katara though she heard sympathy in the man's voice, but she was not sure, it could have as easily been disgust, "I'm sorry-"

"Here," Katara said. She reached out her hand and dropped twenty shiny, golden coins into the man's hand, "twenty, right?"

"Y-Yes," the man stuttered, "I'll show you to the room." Katara sighed, she did not think a boat fare would cost her that much; she still had a small pile in her pocket in the cloak but she did not know what might need to be paid for later on.

The captain led her to the room and held the door open for her and her two children. She nodded and the door closed behind her. Katara almost forgot what it felt like to be treated as a normal person sometimes; not once had anyone bowed to her or greeted her a with proper title, and she liked it.

Katara pulled off her two cloaks and laid them over a chair which faced a desk and mirror, like a small vanity. The bed was large, but plain and sturdy. It was bolted to the floor, as were the other pieces of furniture that were supposed to be kept in place on a ship at sea. Tsun jumped onto the bed and pulled back the covers to jump in. Kasumi watched her brother then joined him, deciding sleep was a good idea. That night would soon give way to morning. Katara watched the two of them snuggle under the covers; if she had felt like sleeping, she could have easily fit beside them. Sleep was not on her agenda though. Katara walked to the door and found the key hanging on the knob. The water bender locked the door and stepped outside. The water lapped at the boat's sides as it moved away from the dock and out to sea. Katara felt the waves under her feet, a feeling she had almost forgotten after all these years of staying on dry land. She resisted the urge to waterbend, reminding herself she could practice all she wanted back at home. Katara turned to the crescent moon.

"Guide me home Yue," Katara said quietly. She let the moonbeams bath her smiling face in gentle light then turned and walked back to her room to try and sleep.

---

The ocean and winds sent the ship south towards Whale Tail Island in a hurried manner. The moon slowly waxed each night, but the upward facing crescent remained, meaning more good sailing for the next few days to come. Six days into the journey, Katara felt a familiar pain spam through her body. In a split second her blue eyes opened wide in realization, the baby was coming. Katara lay herself on the fainting couch in the corner of the room and called Tsun over. He complied readily, not understanding why his mother looked so frightened all of a sudden.

"Tsun," Katara ordered as calm as she could, "go and find someone who can help me with a new baby. Hurry. Go."

"Ok," Tsun nodded. He rushed from the room leaving Kasumi to comfort her mother alone. Katara focused on her breathing as she held onto her daughter's hand. Kasumi offered it in the only way she knew to try and comfort her mother. Kasumi had noticed Katara's panicked voice as well. The waterbender had a right to panic; she had planned to be back home to deliver the baby, but instead the infant was roughly three weeks earlier then she had expected. Katara hoped the child would be ok. She had no physicians like in the palace to help her and tell her what to do if something went wrong. Another contraction ripped through her body as she squeezed her blue eyes closed. Kasumi made no sound as her mother gripped her hand tighter.

Several more closely spaced contractions later, the door was flung open as Tsun pulled in a startled woman. The woman took one look at Katara and rolled up her sleeves.

"I bet you weren't expecting this," she smiled gently.

"No," Katara had to laugh. She turned to look at her son, "thank you Tsun." Tsun nodded and shyly went to sit in the chair at the vanity, his back to the action.

Through the next few hours, Katara kept her blue eyes closed tight. The woman assisting her had explained that she was a maid accompanying her lady to met someone at the island. She was an experienced midwife and Katara had nothing to worry about. The fact that the baby was early did not faze the woman in the slightest. While she guided Katara through the familiar mantra of deep breathing, she recalled how Tsun had found her in the hallway. The boy had told her something was wrong with his mother and a baby and that she needed help. Between breathes Katara managed to laugh before pain contorted her face once more. Kasumi stood silently, her hand still held tight by her mother. The maid worked her best to keep Katara breathing steadily and calm.

A piercing cry split the air. Katara collapsed into the tiny couch as her body un-tensed in one motion. The maid pulled the extra sheets from the bottom vanity drawer and wrapped the newborn in them. Katara lay with her eyes closed on the couch; she let go of Kasumi's hand and rested both her hands on her stomach. Her chest rose and fell as her breathing returned to normal. She heard the maid fusing with the crying baby; the sound of fabric over wet skin filled the room under the screaming. The crying faded slowly and the woman rocked the infant in her arms for a moment.

"Congratulations," she praised, "you have a beautiful baby girl." Katara opened her eyes for the first time since the woman entered the room and put a face to the voice who had been guiding her. The maid was watching the baby lovingly. Katara was about to ask if she could hold her newest daughter when the maid let a gentle gasp escape her lips.

"What?" asked Katara, fearful that something was wrong with the baby.

"She has… blue eyes," the maid stuttered. The woman looked to Katara and was met with another set of cerulean orbs. The maid looked around the room and saw the cloaks with the royal insignia embroidered on them hanging off the chair Tsun had seated himself in. The boy turned to look at his mother and the maid caught a flash of gold in his eyes. She noticed Kasumi again and saw the same eyes as the Fire Lord's staring back at her. She turned to Katara with shock in her own brown orbs.

"Your highness," she muttered. She fumbled a curtsy and turned to the baby. Katara reached out and took her; she cuddled the newborn to her chest for a moment.

"Please," Katara looked up as she spoke, "don't tell anyone who I am and that you saw me here."

"But wont the Fire Lord want to know about-" the woman asked, referring to the baby in Katara's arms.

"He'll find out," Katara promised. The room fell silent as the woman watched Katara rock her daughter.

"What will her name be?" she asked quietly. Katara smiled. The baby was so small compared to her others. She seemed so much more fragile and delicate, like a porcelain doll. The baby girl blinked her eyes open and closed them again; Katara caught a flash of blue. Not a grey blue, the kind that would turn to another color with age, but a pure blue. A blue that could rival the ocean, an azure color to match her won. She smiled again as she drank in the sight of her newest baby.

"Jia Li," Katara replied.

"It's a beautiful name," the woman smiled. She bowed her head and left the royal family to themselves.

---

The next morning, the boat pulled into the harbor on Whale Tail Island. Katara stood on deck with her two children beside her and her new baby in her arms. Each one of them was wrapped in their cloaks, Katara and Tsun in both of theirs. The baby was wrapped in a plain red blanket from the bed that Katara intended to keep until she reached the South Pole. The waterbender had left a gold coin, more than enough to pay for it, on the dresser.

The other passengers joined them on the deck as the boat began to dock. The man who had been in a hurry paced the portion of the deck where the gangplank would be lowered to let everyone off. When the boat was secured the man hastily made his way off the boat but never broke into a run. Katara, Tsun, and Kasumi made their way with the crowd off the boat. Once they stepped back onto solid ground Tsun and Kasumi wobbled slightly after being on the boat for a week. Katara held Jia Li closer to herself as they moved aside to let the crowds clear.

Katara needed to find a boat that would take her to the Southern Water Tribe. She looked towards the market and noticed several sets of blue eyes flash her way. She smiled slightly and knew she would be more hidden here than in the Fire Nation. She pulled Kasumi and Tsun towards a man who was directing people towards different boats on the wharf.

"Sir," Katara called as she caught the man's attention. He turned and watched her walk over with the two children, a frown evident on his face. Katara pulled her brown cloak tighter around herself. Anyone would think it was because of the chill in the air. Kasumi and Tsun had already voiced their complaints about it; being raised in the Fire Nation made it understandable.

"Yes," the man snapped. Katara figured he had been working all day and was ready for a break.

"Can you tell me if any of these boats are headed to the South Pole?" asked Katara. The man looked at her like she was crazy.

"No boats sail that way this time of year," he said, "but you could charter a fishing boat to take you." Katara looked out to the harbor and spotted a lone man preparing his boat to sail. Katara turned and headed for the man as a messenger boy rushed to the dock master of the island. Katara's pace quickened as he relayed his message; the messenger hawk flapped its wings to keep steady on the boy's shoulder.

"Sir!" he stated, "we've just received news from the capital in the Fire Nation, the Lady Katara has gone missing and the court requires the help of the other nations to safely escort her and the two young heirs home. A reward had been posted for any bit of information leading to her safe return home-"

Katara and her children hurried out of range before the boy finished reciting his message.

"Mom?" Tsun asked with inquiring eyes. His question was cut short as Katara stepped up to the man with his boat as he untied the second to last rope.

"Excuse me!" called Katara. The man looked in her direction and stepped to the side of his boat. It was small and smelled of fish, but it looked sturdy enough…

"What?" he shouted as a gust of wind carried his voice.

"Can you take us to the Southern Water Tribe?" asked Katara hurriedly. The wind was gaining in frequency. The sail began to fill, but one last rope held the boat in place.

"I'm sorry, but I need to get out now before the fish are all gone," the man stated. Katara noted he did not sound the least bit sorry…

"You have to take us there!" Katara shouted. The boat begged to be free of its mooring as the wind picked up. The man sighed.

"If you could make up for my days loss of fish, then maybe I'll consider it," the fisherman said.

"Here, is this enough?" Katara asked. She held out seven gold coins, more than enough money to make up for one day lost. She knew she was over-paying him, but she needed to get off this island, the news that she was wanted back home would be spreading soon and she would not be as safe as she thought.

"Yes!" the man smiled, "where did you want to go again?" Katara helped Kasumi and Tsun onto the boat. Then with the baby in her arms, she boarded. The man removed the last rope and the boat was freed. The wind gusted and filled the old sail with wind.

"To the Southern Water Tribe," smiled Katara.

---

The air grew colder the further south the boat traveled. The fisherman hummed a tune as he sailed the boat towards the South Pole. He had not even bothered to ask them their names, which suited Katara just fine. She doubted the woman who had helped her deliver Jai Li would tell anyone of her whereabouts. No one knew she was headed home. Katara doubted anyone had seen her leave the night she did. When Zuko would have thought to look for her, it would have been midday the following day. To search the palace, even with the all the guards, would take them another half a day. Katara shook her head, trying to clear her worries from it. She would be able to see her brother Sokka soon and Suki too. She stood and walked to front of the boat to watch the waves roll by.

The boat's swift pace was brought to a standstill in a quick moment. Katara, still clutching the infant in her right arm, held onto the rigging of the sail with her left to keep from failing. Tsun and Kasumi, both who were seated on the deck, skidded a few feet before standing and looking around.

"Mom!" Tsun called as he peered over the side of the boat, "we're stuck in some weird ice!" Katara looked to the fisherman who was rubbing his head from where he had hit it on his steering wheel. The sound of boats cutting through the waves stole Katara's attention. A smile filled her face as she realized what was happening. Kasumi and Tsun wondered what could make their mother smile in this situation.

Three wide canoe-like boats, each carrying seven people, sailed up to the fishing boat. Katara noticed for the first time the ship flew a green flag on its sail. The fisherman gave a guilty smile and a shrug of his shoulders to portray innocence.

"Hey again," he laughed nervously.

"We told you before you can't fish here," one of the young men on one of the boats scowled.

"I'm not fishing today boys," the fisherman said, raising his hands to show them they were empty, "I'm simply transporting some paying customers.

"Who?" asked the boy again.

"Us," Katara stated, walking to where her two children stood. She could tell that almost none of the people on the two boats on her side of the fishing ship had seen them. All the men looked young, Katara guessed they were all waterbenders judging from the ice around the boat and some of their stances alone. The closest boys noticed her blue eyes but had never seen her face before.

"And you would be?" asked the same boy who seemed to be in charge. Katara pulled off her brown cloak and let it fall to the deck at her feet. The royal, red cloak stood in stark contrast to the blue oceans and white icebergs around her. She heard a collective gasp from some of the older men on the ships. They all knew that there was only one reason for her to have blue eyes and be wearing something with the royal Fire Nation insignia on it.

"It's Katara," she heard some of the men mumble. She spotted a familiar face in the crowd on the closest boat. Even though he was only a warrior and could not waterbend he still sat with the others, controlling the rudder of the boat.

"Bato," smiled Katara. She would have walked across the water to greet him if she did not have Jia Li in her arm. "I'm back."

"I guess this is as far as I can take you then," shrugged the fisherman. His attitude did not seem to have changed towards her, she guessed he still had no idea who she was. She nodded and knew it was better that way.

"Thank you," Katara smiled. The waterbenders unfroze the ice holding the boat in place and Bato instructed his benders to maneuver the boat closer so Katara and her children could hop aboard. The benders assisted Kasumi and Tsun and made room for them. Katara stepped onto the boat, pulling her brown cloak over her shoulders as she moved. Jia Li squirmed in her grasp and Katara held her tighter to her chest to keep her warm. Bato moved to one side and let Katara sit next to him on the bench.

"Ok, let's get back," Bato called out to the three boats. Half the men on each boat stood and took up water bending stances. The boats moved away, picking up speed with each passing second.

"How's Sokka?" asked Katara, "I haven't gotten any letters from him in a long time."

"His bird finally died after seven years of flying between you two, quite a feat," Bato explained, "he just couldn't get any other bird to learn the route."

"I can't wait to see him again," Katara smiled, "How's my dad?"

"He's fine," Bato smiled, "he'll be happy to see you."

"I can't wait to be back home again," Katara smiled.

"You'll find a lot of things have changed," Bato stated, "the tribe has been thriving." Katara simply smiled at him and watched for when the village would come into view around each passing iceberg.

The sight that came before her blue eyes was breath taking. The small village surrounded by Sokka's simple handmade fortifications had been transformed into a large town made of beautiful sparkling ice. Katara thought to the Northern Water Tribe when she saw it.

"Wow," cooed Katara. Kasumi and Tsun were awestruck. They had never seen anything like this before. It rarely, if ever, snowed in the Fire Nation, so to have houses and walls made of the white stuff was an impossible notion to imagine. The boats docked and Katara stepped onto the snow. The crunch under her shoes brought back tears as she remembered her life here before she went off with Sokka to find Aang. Katara watched as the ice gate was opened and the city lay out before her. It was different then she remembered it, but one thing remained the same. She could tell where her brother and father were without asking anyone. The large igloo-like structure -complete with bits of architecture unlike the style built in the South Pole- stood in the center of the town. A large balcony faced the gate atop the first story in the front of the building. Kasumi and Tsun stayed close to their mother as she walked unguided through the town towards the main building. While she had not braided her hair back or tied it up in her characteristic way she used to, many of the older women doing chores recognized her from the time before her brother and her found Aang. Most of the younger girls or women a few years younger than Katara wondered who she was. Katara walked past the villagers as they began to talk about either why Katara, Fire Lord Zuko's wife had returned, _or_ who this foreigner was and why no one was trying to stop her.

Katara pushed aside the front door and walked inside the large main building. She took a deep breath and smiled, happy to be home.

Kasumi pulled on her mother's cloak, trying her best not to shiver too violently. Her thin cloak was doing little to keep her warm in the frigid environment.

"Mom, I'm cold," complained Tsun. Katara looked down at the two and bit her lip. She needed to get them into warmer clothing; she needed to find Sokka.

"Sokka!" called Katara. She did not know where to look for him inside the large house. She pulled off her brown cloak and wrapped it around Tsun and Kasumi. The cold would not affect her as much as it did them; she was still used to it after all these years. She kept her red cloak on though; even she would feel the chill with nothing around her.

She finally heard footsteps from the second story. On the top of the staircase, a women with short brown hair appeared. She took one look at the red figure at the door and flew down the stairs towards her.

"Katara!" cried the happy woman. Katara instantly recognized her.

"Suki!" Katara smiled, "I missed you."

"Not as much as I missed you," Suki said. She released her from her embrace and met her blue eyes after looking around the room. "Did you come alone?" Suki looked around again and raised an eyebrow. Katara knew who she was looking for.

"Zuko's isn't here," Katara stated bluntly, "he doesn't know _I'm_ here." She paused to let her words sink in. "Do you know where Sokka is?"

"Oh," Suki replied, slightly confused, then she smiled, "Sokka is this way, he'll be so excited!" Katara was pulled through the large igloo by Suki. Kasumi and Tsun, while still shivering, marveled at the fact that fluffy snow could be made into anything that stood against the weather. The icy room was warmer then outside, but not by much. Suki pushed open a door that led to a room with a large cooking fire. Tears come to Katara's blue eyes as she spotted three people in blue parkas standing a few feet away from the fire.

"Dad," Katara mumbled almost silently as a pained smile formed on her lips. She dropped Kasumi's hand and crossed the room in three large strides. She wrapped her free arm around her father. His surprise melted into happiness as he returned her embrace.

"Katara?!" Sokka questioned. Katara turned and spotted her brother. She turned and embraced him as well. He attempted to give her a tight hug.

"Careful," Katara cautioned. Sokka released her and watched as she pulled the red blanket down to reveal the face of the infant in her arm. Sokka seemed to notice for the first time that two children stood in the threshold of the room. Katara watched her brother's blue eyes move from Kasumi and Tsun and then to Jia Li in her arms.

"Is Zuko here?" asked Sokka. He looked to the door, expecting the leader of the Fire Nation to step through.

"No," Katara stated, "I came on my own." There was a long pause after her words floated across the room.

"So, how have you been?" asked Suki, breaking the silence. Katara motioned for Kasumi and Tsun to come closer.

"I've been fine," Katara said. Though it was not a complete lie, it definitely was not the full truth.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer your last letter," Sokka sighed, "but when Hawky died, none of the other birds we had knew the route."

"It's ok Sokka," Katara smiled. She rested her free hand on Tsun's shoulder, "not too much happened."

"Not too much!" Sokka exclaimed. He threw his arms out towards her in disbelief, "you suddenly have a son and a new baby. A lot of things happened, even the fact that you're here means something's going on!"

"I haven't met your and Suki's son yet," Katara smiled as she steered the conversation away from herself for just a bit longer.

"Oh," Sokka smiled, "Mizu, come here." Sokka knew he had written about his son after he was born and trying to explain his excitement in words to share with his sister. The third person dressed in a blue parka in the room moved closer and pulled the hood from his head. Sokka put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Katara stared at the boy who looked to be just younger then Kasumi. He had his mother's brown eyes and wore his hair like Sokka, and just about every other guy in the tribe. The boy smiled politely at Katara and her two children, still wondering what to make of them.

"Hi Mizu," Katara smiled in response to his. She touched Kasumi's shoulder, "this is-"

"Oh wait!" Sokka jumped, "let me guess!" Katara could not help but laugh at her brother's enthusiasm. She thought he would have outgrown that long ago.

"This is Kasumi," Sokka finally stated after a moment of thought.

"And this is Tsun," Katara announced placing her hands on his head and smoothing his black hair, "and this is Jia Li." Suki and Hakoda offered their greetings to them as Sokka paused for a moment. He glanced around the room then turned to Katara.

"I thought in your letter you said you had another daughter," he said, his eyes were locked onto hers. With a sharp intake of air, Katara closed her blue eyes for a moment. When she looked to Sokka again, her eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"Tala's dead," Katara mumbled. The room fell silent. Kasumi looked at her feet and tried not to let her own tears fall. Tsun seemed the least affected by the retelling of old news. He was only sad Tala could never play with him again.

"Katara," mumbled Hakoda. He embraced his daughter. She leaned into her father's shoulder and wiped the tears away that had accumulated her eyes. After a moment she gave her father a hurried smile and turned to Sokka and Suki.

"Kasumi and Tsun need better clothing," she stated, trying to hide the emotion still in her voice, "they aren't used to the cold." All eyes turned to the two children who were shivering slightly in the relatively warm air of the room.

"All of you need better clothes," Suki agreed. She looked at Katara who also had on Fire Nation clothing suited for another climate, "follow me." Katara followed Suki from the kitchen and up the staircase. Katara had never seen stairs _in_ any house made of ice, she wondered if the Fire Nation Palace had been on Sokka's mind if he had been the one to suggest it. The group walked down the hallway and into a room with a single bed piled high with blankets and furs. Suki left them as she disappeared to find some extra clothing. She returned a moment latter, a stack of folded blue clothing in her arms.

"I hope these fit," she apologized, "I didn't keep a lot of Mizu's old clothing, so they might be big for Tsun. The parkas should fit though." Katara thanked Suki and handed each child a blue parka and matching warm clothing to go underneath. Katara handed Suki the baby, sleeping soundly once more, and disappeared to change. She pulled on the blue outfit and remembered her old life here, before anything had changed. The parka had a beaded design on the base and soft fur at each opening to stem the loss of heat. Katara returned to the bedroom and smiled as she saw each of her children dressed in blue. Tsun had a childish pout on his face as he pulled at the hood of his parka. Kasumi seemed more at ease with the change of color; she knew she would be warmer now.

Suki turned to the window and noticed the sun at the horizon. It would not dip any further south for another few months. It had taken her a while to get used to sleeping while the sun was still up, but now it did not bother her. Suki left Katara with the three children and walked back to the kitchen. Katara watched her go then left the room. Tsun and Kasumi would be sleeping when she got back. Katara walked in the opposite direction towards a door.

Katara opened the door and stepped onto the balcony she had seen earlier. The space was huge. Katara pulled Jia Li closer to her chest as she made sure the blanket was wrapped completely around the infant's body. The town glittered under the setting sun as Katara walked onto the ice balcony. The people below paid no heed to her as she peered over the icy railing to get a better look of the village from above. Jia Li stirred in her arms. She opened her blue eyes and squirmed. Katara pulled the red blanket tighter around the baby so she would not shrug it off in the cold. A wind ruffled her hair as she turned to face it and closed her eyes. After a moment, the wind dissipated yet Katara stood where she had before without moving. Another presence moved into the space. Katara turned and smiled at her brother. They stood in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company, until Katara heard Tsun begin to cough. She sighed and turned to walk back to the room when he stopped. Sokka looked to his sister, worry on his face.

"Katara," he said, his voice held concern. He was trying to understand what was wrong, "is he ok?"

"He's sick," Katara explained. Her blue eyes moved from the infant in her arms to Sokka, "he was worse last year, but he just won't get better."

"What is he sick with?" Sokka asked, "maybe one of the healers could-"

"There was a strange illness that swept through the capital, "Katara explained, "I couldn't do anything for him."

"Maybe one of our healers could," Sokka suggested again "or one in the Northern Water Tribe. They still have better healers there then we do here."

"I don't know how long I'll be here Sokka," Katara sighed.

"What? You just got here! What do you mean?" Sokka exclaimed, "I haven't seen you in fifteen years and then you show up just to leave again?"

"It's not my choice," Katara explained quietly, "I just left." Sokka stared at her like she had just grown a second head.

"Why?" asked Sokka. His blue eyes went wide, "did Zuko-"

"No," Katara interrupted, "Zuko didn't do anything." Katara paused. She realized she was defending Zuko when she had no obligation to do so for him at all. She brushed it off.

"Then why did you leave?" asked Sokka. He wasn't mad or angry, just curious.

"It's the court Sokka," Katara explained, "they're ruining everything that we've worked for. They have too much control, something needs to be done." Katara paused a second, "they're the ones who want to bring me back, the ones who never let me leave."

"What?" asked Sokka.

"They've offered a reward and everything," Katara stated, "that's why I don't know how long I'll be here."

"No, we'll fix this," Sokka promised, "when Aang comes tomorrow-"

"Aang's coming, here?" smiled Katara.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you," Sokka grinned, "he could take you anywhere to solve this problem. He could even take you up the Northern Water Tribe to find a healer." Tsun started coughing again in the bedroom.

"I just can't wait to see him," Katara smiled. She listened as Tsun coughed again. Jia Li stirred and opened her blue eyes. She wiggled one hand free and patted Katara's parka before reaching in the direction of Sokka. Katara gently tucked the baby's arm back into the blanket.

"Can I hold her?" Sokka asked quietly. Katara carefully handed her older brother Jia Li, reminding him to support her head. Katara watched a smile on her as Sokka watched his youngest niece as she looked up at him. Tsun coughed louder from the room and Katara turned to the door. Sokka still held Jia Li as he followed her out of the room to watch over Tsun through the night…

---

The curtains of the room had been pulled shut to keep the midnight sun from entering the bedroom. A stream of winter sunbeams filtered through the room and fell onto Katara's closed eyes. She lay alone on the bed, Tsun and Kasumi were gone.

The sun finally had its effect on Katara, her blue eyes fluttered open. She smiled and pulled the fur blankets up to her chin to snuggle under the covers. She closed her eyes again and tried to return to her dream.

Suki interrupted her attempt as she entered the room and pulled open the closed curtains. Katara groaned and rolled over to pull the blankets over her face to keep the sun away.

"Katara, get up," laughed Suki, "both Tsun and Kasumi have been up for hours!" Katara sat up in bed and looked around.

"Where are they?" she asked, slightly panicked.

"Don't worry," Suki smiled, "they're outside with Mizu in the snow," Katara relaxed and climbed out of bed. She had fallen asleep in her clothing while watching over Tsun. She thought for a moment if Sokka still had Jia Li and turned to Suki. She did not have to say a word before Suki answered her unspoken question.

"Jia Li is downstairs being spoiled by your father and Sokka," she smiled. Katara led the way downstairs, Suki at her heels, to check on everything. She found her father holding Jia Li near the warmth of the fire with a blue dress. The baby, too young to understand the change into real clothing, squirmed and gurgled in her grandfather's arms.

"How is she?" asked Katara. Hakoda looked up and smiled at his daughter.

"She's been quiet," he said, "much like your other daughter." Katara's smiled faded. She could tell her father was asking her why without trying to force her.

"Kasumi thinks that if she stays silent then no one else will die," Katara replied, "she was with her sister when she was-" Katara cut herself off so she did not have to finish. Hakoda was silent as he absorbed the news. He had seen the two children earlier when his other grandson, Mizu, had dragged them outside to play in the new snow that had fallen that night. He had heard something a snowball fight and felt sorry for the two children who had been brought up in the Fire Nation. The two looked entirely like their father, Tsun was almost his miniature. Jia Li seemed to resemble Katara the most, if only for her blue eyes. He glanced at his daughter and smiled gently.

"Katara," he spoke. Katara turned to him and took Jia Li back into her arms. The master waterbender smiled back and walked off to find Tsun and Kasumi.

She only had to step foot outside the large igloo to discover what had captured their attention. Off to the left in an open expense of snow, two small forts rose from the ground. Made entirely of snow, Katara could tell bending had been involved to form them. Snowballs flew back and forth between them. Katara watched Sokka and Suki's son Mizu firing orders from atop the closest fort. A boy standing hear him fixed one of the walls with rudimentary waterbending while others launched a barrage of premade snowballs towards the 'enemy' fort. A blast of weak fire exploded from an icy window in the fort and Katara frowned. At least now she knew where to find Tsun and Kasumi. No other child in the whole Southern Water Tribe could fire bend, the flame had to be Tsun's doing.

Katara walked through the fight; she absentmindedly waved oncoming snowballs from hitting her and the baby with a flick of her wrist. Several of the children noticed her interference and gave her a wide berth with their snowballs. Katara ducked around to the relative safety behind the main wall of the snow fort and paused. Mizu stood several feet up on the tall wall, acting as a lookout and directing the three kids that were throwing the snowballs. Tsun stood next to him, ready in a firebending stance, for what reason Katara was unsure. She did notice that none of the children stood near him and put a wide margin of space between them. Only Mizu seemed comfortable at the seven-year-old's side.

Katara found Kasumi kneeling with two other children forming snowballs. For a child who had never touched snow in her life, her snowballs rivaled perfection. A small smile sparkled on her lips, though her mouth remained closed. Her voice was still a prisoner.

"Incoming!" called Mizu. Katara looked up and watched him duck his head safely behind the snow barrier. Tsun grinned and took a breath; he punched the air with open fists and fire erupted from his palms. Katara watched the flame, noticeably smaller than the previous blast, as it met a large ice ball midair. The ice melted and fell to the ground as rain. Tsun's breathing was slightly labored as he leaned against the ice wall and watched Mizu resume his position as lookout. Katara watched as Tsun closed her golden eyes and coughed a few times before resuming his task of watching for large dangerous projectiles.

"Tsun, Kasumi!" Katara called. She tried to keep her voice gentle, but it came out more commanding then she wanted it to be, "come here." Kasumi rose to her feet in an instant. She brushed the snow from her dress-like parka and pulled on her gloves before darting to her mother's side. Mizu turned and looked to Tsun who had not moved. A barrage of snowballs flew over the wall, missing Mizu's head by inches. Katara raised her hand and sent them on another path so they would miss her and Kasumi entirely.

"Tsun come down," Katara called. The two children making snowballs had stopped and watched Tsun. He stood silent while all the children watched the confrontation.

"I don't want to," Tsun pouted. He crossed his arms over his chest, hiding his bare hands from sight. He turned to Mizu, "we're playing Mom, can't I come later?"

"No, come down now," Katara ordered. Kasumi looked up at her brother, begging him to come down. Both pairs of golden eyes met for but a moment.

"Make me," Tsun frowned. Mizu looked at Tsun and then watched as Katara handed the silent baby in her arms to Kasumi. Sokka's son took a step back from Tsun as he watched his aunt step into a stance that was not entirely new to him, but one he had not seen any of his friends use. The boy decided his father must not have been lying about her being a master.

Katara stepped forward and lifted her hands, only to step backwards in a quick spin on her left foot and pull her hands together and into her chest. The children watched as a column of snow rose swiftly from the fort under Tsun's feet, engulfed his body up to his hips, and descended in front of Katara. Tsun was stunned. Unlike Kasumi, he had never seen Katara waterbend. He was always ill when she used her bending, and most of the occasions were forgotten. The other children stood in stunned silence as Katara stared down tat Tsun. She dropped her hands and the snow slid harmlessly to the ground. The silence was starting to make everyone uneasy, even the 'enemy' snowballs had stopped falling. Tsun had began to turn red.

An all too familiar sound filled the air above the village. Katara looked up along with every one of the children in the fort. A low bellow sounded again as a great flying beast descended towards the town. Mizu's brown eyes, Suki's eyes, followed the creature's descent and smile lit up his face. He pulled himself up so he stood on the highest fort wall and looked over it. His excitement seemed unmatchable by anything. The other children had similar looks of glee on their faces, leading Katara to believe that her friend made many trips here. The children around her, aside from Tsun and Kasumi, stormed the fort wall and hurried to join Mizu on the top. While they tensed for the attack on their newest playmate that stood out of Katara's view, none of them left the wall. Mizu stood and smiled.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed. The others surged forwards and slid down the outer wall and out of sight. Before Mizu jumped as well, Tsun called out to him.

"What's going on?" he called, "who's that?" Tsun's questions fell on deaf ears as Mizu disappeared.

"Who's that Mom?" asked the prince.

"Aang," Katara smiled.

* * *

She's free! Ok… What happens now? Does the court find Katara? What do they do to get her back? How does Zuko feel about what is going on? What is Aang's reaction to Katara's story? And how does Azula fit into all this?

The next chapter will tell all!

Remember to review… :)


	5. Revelations

**I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender**…

The chapter name sounded cool so i kept it. I'm not so sure if the word's offical definition fits my definition, but oh well right? Enjoy :)

* * *

Chapter 5) _Revelations_

Katara led her two children around the wall of snow. Kasumi held Jia Li while Katara kept a firm grip on Tsun's hand. The boy followed obediently after his mother. Katara's smile grew as she saw the white mound of fur that before had been flying above the village. A crowd had already gathered, mostly children, welcoming the arrival. Katara felt a pang of jealousy as she realized Aang had visited Sokka multiple times while she had not seen him once since the wedding. She led Tsun and Kasumi into the growing crowd and smiled brighter as she saw her friend step off Appa's back. He still wore a bright grin, the same one he had when they traveled the world. He was still bald, and his blue arrow still looked funny. Katara let herself see the changes then. He was older of course; he looked taller. Katara wondered if he would have to look down at her now instead of up. She saw how he scanned the crowd of children before giving a more serious grin to the adults gathered. Katara pulled Tsun and Kasumi closer as Aang's eyes swept through the crowd. She felt his gaze linger on her after doing a double take. Her blue eyes centered on him as he opened his mouth, dumbstruck.

"K-K-Katara?!" he asked. Katara flashed him a smile and the crowd parted around her, where Aang's gaze fell. Murmuring spread through the crowd as Aang stepped forward and embraced her. She returned his hug and noticed he was taller than her now, though only a bit.

"Katara's here?" asked a voice Katara knew as well. Toph jumped down from Appa's saddle and slid on the ice. Katara watched as the blind earthbender regained her balance, thanks to Appa, and walked a few steps forward. Katara noticed Toph had on a pair of small boots; it would not be smart to walk around the South Pole without shoes. Ice and snow blinded Toph anyway, so the shoes made no difference.

"Toph!" smiled Katara. Aang let her go so she could hug Toph. Kasumi and Tsun watched as their mother petted the large furry beast when she finished her hug. After a few words from Aang and a promise to play with the children later, the crowd disbanded. Katara was happy to see Aang seemed to love the children who flocked to him. She looked to the avatar before her.

"It's so good to see you again Aang," Katara smiled, "I haven't heard from you since the wedding." Aang looked puzzled, but his question was interrupted by Tsun.

"Who are they Mom?" he asked.

"These are my friends," Katara explained, "this is Aang and Toph," she put a hand on each of their shoulders then stepped back and reached out to the bison, "and this is Appa."

"You forgot Momo!" Aang smiled. He leaped into the air with a gust of wind to aid him and landed on Appa's saddle. The two children watched as he leaped back down to the snow and held out a sleeping lemur.

"And this is Momo," he said.

"What is it?" asked Tsun. He reached out to poke the flying lemur when it opened its green eyes and flew backwards wrapping itself around Aang's head. Kasumi took a startled step backwards while Tsun laughed. His laughter was followed by a fit of coughing. Katara hovered over him while his coughing subsided; Aang watched them, concern on his face.

"Let's go inside and say hello to Sokka," Katara suggested. Toph nodded and the little group followed Katara back to the main igloo. Suki and Sokka stood with Hakoda and Mizu in the front room, waiting. Aang and Toph each hugged Sokka and came inside to the kitchen. Toph took a seat near the cooking fire and promptly pulled her shoes off. She still could not see, but having the shoes off felt better. Aang seemed a little apprehensive at starting a conversation the way he would have before; luckily Toph had no such inhibitions.

"So Sugar Queen," Toph laughed, "where's Zuko?" Katara laughed at her old nickname and could not fight the smile that spread across her face.

"He's back at the palace," Katara stated through a giggle, "where else would he be?" Katara was unsure whether Toph had not acted different to her new self because she had yet to see her or because she would always just be Sugar Queen to her. Either way, Katara hoped it stayed that way. She needed something the way it was before. No one replied to her question, but Sokka turned to Aang to get right to the point.

"You're heading to the Northern Water Tribe right?" he asked. Aang nodded.

"One of their messenger hawks found us as we were leaving an island off of Kyoshi," Aang explained, "we thought we'd drop by before we went north." Tsun sat down by the fire and put his hands close to the flames. He coughed a few times, the fire jumping erratically with each ragged breath. The room was silent during his episode. Suki broke the silence.

"It's a good thing you came," she said, "Katara needs someone to take her and her children to the Northern Water Tribe." Aang looked to Katara and smiled.

"I'd love to take you!" he grinned.

"Our little adventure has come full circle," Katara smiled, "it's almost like we're repeating it." Katara and Aang's eyes turned to Sokka expectantly.

"Oh no," he stated, "I'm not going! That was my least favorite part of our adventures. All your 'magical water bending' practice, pirates, getting sick, and eating frogs, no… I'm staying right here!"

"I seem to remember you enjoyed yourself when we got to the North Pole," Katara joked. His sister's grin was so contagious Sokka had to laugh; he was happy to see her so happy. Tsun coughed again and wrapped his arms around his legs.

"If you're ready, we can go now," Aang suggested.

"We can leave whenever," Katara explained.

"Alright then," Toph stated as she got to her feet. She pulled on her boots and walked from the room muttering, "more snow and ice, great." Katara laughed and helped Tsun to his feet. Kasumi, Tsun, and Katara followed Aang to Appa with Suki, Sokka, and Mizu right behind. The two children seemed apprehensive about climbing onto Appa, but Katara set the perfect example after hugging Sokka goodbye. Once they were all aboard, Aang sat on his bison's head.

"Yip Yip Appa!" called Aang. The bison lifted its massive tail and rose into the sky on a gust of air. Tsun and Kasumi latched onto Katara as they rose into the air. Katara held Jia Li and tried to comfort the two children the best she could. They flew over the ice walls and Katara gave her brother one last wave before he disappeared under the clouds.

"Aang," Katara sighed, "weren't you going to do something with the kids? Won't they be mad they'll have to wait for you to come back?" Aang raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"They won't have to wait long," the avatar said, "we'll be back within the year." Katara looked to the baby in her arms and sighed.

"So Sokka gets to see you twice a year and I don't?" Katara asked as she closed her eyes.

"The councilmen keep sending me messages saying how much everything is working out and that you and Zuko are really busy," Aang explained. He put the reins down on Appa's head and let the bison fly itself north through the familiar air space. "I've sent you letters, but you've never written back."

"I've never gotten any letters," Katara said, "when did you send them?"

"They were with the notes I sent to the council," Aang stated, "I only had one messenger hawk, so I gave it everything. I told them to give you the letters. I wonder if they forgot or got lost."

"They didn't forget Aang," Katara said, her voice solemn, "they've kept them from me on purpose." Toph looked to Katara, confusion apparent in her expression. Tsun still clung to Katara's waist, his golden eyes shut tight in fear. Kasumi listened to the conversation, yet she appeared to be gazing at the passing ocean, though her hands were white from her death grip on the edge of the saddle.

"Why would they do that?" Toph asked.

"Because if you showed up at the palace," Katara paused, "you'd see how out of control everything has gotten and how much power the court has decided it has." Aang noticed Katara's blue eyes suddenly take on a determined sheen.

"But the rest of the world seems fine," Toph spoke, "they must be doing something right."

"They are when it comes to the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, but the Fire Nation is suffering." Katara explained, "I don't know for sure what those two are after, but they'll kill to get it."

"No," Aang said, "if you and Zuko think something's wrong, then I'll fix it. The point wasn't to punish the Fire Nation for following Ozai; it was to try and realign the elements again and balance the world." Everyone was quiet as Aang's words sunk in. Katara had not realized how much he had recently grown into his role as the Avatar. She smiled and leaned against the saddle watching the ocean under her pass by like an unbroken mirror.

---

Sokka watched Appa disappear into the clouds. He half expected to see Appa reappear to come get him because Aang had acted on a whim and decided that they needed to have him to go to the North Pole. Sokka made his way to the ice wall that surrounded the village and looked north. Then again, Aang seemed to have grown out of acting on his whims. Sokka wondered how long it would take them to get to the North Pole if they did not stop at every island on the way. He started to return back to the house when shouting got his attention. He looked down to the running men below him.

"What's going on?" he called.

"There's a Fire Nation ship in sight," replied one of them men, "it's flying the royal flag."

"Assume that it's the Fire Lord and send for an escort," Sokka ordered. He leaped down from the wall and hurried to the front gate. Sokka wanted to know what was going on in the Fire Nation. If Zuko's story and Katara's story were the same, then something was wrong. Suki and Mizu joined Sokka moments later. The Fire Nation ship was being led into the harbor.

"Is it Zuko?" asked Suki.

"I think so," Sokka replied. The ship halted and the nose lowered to let down the occupants. The five men were strangers to the Water Tribe; they glanced around apprehensively.

"Is Fire Lord Zuko with you?" asked Sokka.

"No, he is back in the Fire Nation," answered one of the men.

"Then why are you flying royal colors?" asked Suki.

"We are here to represent the court," the man in front of the group explained. The five men walked down to the snow and stood before Sokka, Suki, and Mizu. "They've inquired about the whereabouts of Lady Katara and the Prince and Princess." Sokka paused; Katara had told him that the court wanted to bring her back. They could not know she had been here.

"Why would she be here?" asked Suki. Sokka smiled inwardly. Suki always was one step ahead of him. The man hesitated.

"The lady was born here, her family is here," he stated, "where else would she go?"

"Katara isn't here," Sokka stated curtly, "if that's all you're here for, I'm sorry to disappoint you." Seeing that the straightforward approach did not seem to have its intended effect, the man switched strategies. Sokka watched as he slipped into a different role.

"You aren't worried- your sister-," he said hesitantly, hoping he remembered the correct relation between the lady and the tribe leader, "will be hurt or find herself in an undesirable situation?" He paused. "You do know she's expecting her next child any time soon."

"Katara's a master waterbender," Sokka stated, "she can handle any situation she gets herself into."

"Even in her condition with two children, the heirs to the Fire Nation no less, with her?" he added. Sokka sighed exasperatedly. These men did not know Katara at all; they severely underestimated her. If anything, his sister was extremely resourceful in any situation.

"I trust my sister's judgment," Sokka said, "but if I hear anything, I'll be sure to send word to Zuk- I mean, the Fire Lord."

"That is all we can ask," the man apologized, "We're sorry to bother you then."Sokka and Suki were slightly surprised that the man had believed their blatant lie. They watched the ship close back up and shove off from the ice. It was gone in a matter of minutes.

The blue eyed warrior looked to the north, hoping the Avatar would keep his sister out of danger long enough to accomplish what she needed to do. There was nothing more he could help her. Sokka turned and walked Suki back to the house with Mizu following behind.

---

The palace was quiet as the Fire Lord walked through the garden. Zuko had to admit he missed Katara more then he thought he would. Meal times were lonely; the courtyards were silent; and he missed the refreshing splash of blue in this red dominated world. He walked down a hallway and wandered past empty rooms. He had yet to have a meeting with the court since Katara's 'disappearance'; the one scheduled for today had been cancelled.

Zuko walked by the aviary and paused. A flutter of wings and an impatient squawk roused his curiosity. A messenger hawk flapped its wings on the perch near the open window. Zuko approached the bird and watched as it stuck out its leg. He took the message and held out his arm. The bird climbed on obediently and cocked its head to look at him from a different angle. Zuko smiled and brought the hawk to its empty cage and shut the door. The bird seemed to sigh and fluffed its feathers happily. Zuko opened the letter.

"To the Royal Council- the other messengers have sent in their reports and each of them carried the same message. Here is the brief summary, as I know you are all very busy." Zuko read to himself. He paused and wondered what the topic at hand was being discussed. As the Fire Lord he should know what they were discussing at least. He read on, "From Ba Sing Se- No sign here, none of the smaller towns know anything. From the Southern Islands- the people here have seen no one matching the description." Zuko was still unsure at what was being reported on. He concluded they were looking for something; the next location gave it away though. The Southern Water Tribe- her brother claims not to have seen her, but a fisherman on Whale Tail island reports he dropped a waterbender and three children there."

"Katara?!" Zuko asked the paper in his hand. The birds around him flapped their wings at his outburst. His mind was suddenly running wild. _**Three**_ _children_? _That would have meant that-_ Zuko cringed at the thought. He wondered how she had gotten so far until he remembered she was not in the Southern Water Tribe. _Where could she be?_ He looked to the message for more clues.

"I'm sorry our boat has not reached the North Pole yet, we had some engine difficulty," Zuko read, "we will search the whole North Pole under the royal banner if the people their question us. Don't worry, we will find her, even if we have to turn the world upside down. You have my word- ~Your Loyal Assistant~" Zuko simply stared at the paper in his hands in disbelief. He had enough time to turn towards the door and rest the paper on the table before one of the court members appeared at the door. It was the shorter of the two men that represented the Fire Nation.

"Fire Lord Zuko," he stated, surprise in his tone, "I didn't expect to find _you_ here."

"But you expect to find Katara by destroying the reputation the Fire Nation has worked so hard to build in the past fifteen years?" Zuko asked, his voice rising, "and by turning the world upside down, do you mean barging through doors and burning villages?"

"It's the common procedure," shrugged the man, an evil grin spreading over his face.

Zuko was too stunned to say anything. He took a moment to regain his focus and held out the letter to the man, "you'll probably being looking for this." The man skimmed through the letter, a frown replacing the grin.

"Aren't you worried Fire Lord Zuko?" asked the man. His question was laced with fake concern.

"About what?" asked Zuko.

"Finding the lady," stated the man, "it has been almost and a week and a half that she's been gone." Zuko avoided the question; Katara was better off away from the palace, if only he could get away as well…

"Do you really think she's in the Northern Water Tribe?" Zuko asked, "why would she go there?"

"We've searched the coasts and major cities and any spots where people knew she had been to. None of them were any good," the man said, "the North Pole is the last spot. There's nowhere left to hide. I've sent orders to search the city to the generals."

"But the people there won't let you in without a valid reason," Zuko stated, "I can't let you do that without first knowing if there is any chance that she's there."

"The order has already been sent out, all the standing army and navy will converge there in four days time, "the man stated matter-of-factly, "the command will be followed and the Lady will be brought back home." Zuko inwardly cringed at the mention of the word home; it was more like a prison. Zuko turned back to the doorway to find the man was gone. The Fire Lord left the room and walked halfway down the hall. He walked through a doorway into a large open room filled with columns and flickering candle flames. Zuko walked through.

"How's the puppet king doing today?" sneered a voice from behind one of the columns. One of the red candle flames turned to blue. Zuko did not even have to look.

"Go away Azula," he ordered.

"I didn't think you cared that much about the waterbenders," she said, her eyebrows lifted in question, "or maybe it's just _one_ waterbender in particular."

"Azula," Zuko warned. He walked past her. She sighed and slid around the column into the hallway.

"All I'm saying, Zuzu, is that you've never been this depressed before. It's just since _her_ departure that you've been acting this way," Azula stated. She examined her fingernails on her left hand. Zuko stopped; his back still faced her.

"What are you suggesting Azula?" asked Zuko, "since you seem to know everything." Azula stepped into the blue light from the candle on the wall.

"Go find her," she smiled deviously. Zuko turned to his sister and blinked in confusion.

"What did you say?" he asked. Azula rolled her golden brown eyes.

"I said," she repeated, "go and get her back."

"But I don't know where she is," Zuko stated.

"Don't you?" Azula smiled. Zuko watched his sister for a moment and realized she had heard his conversation with the man from the court.

"But I don't have a ship," Zuko stated more to himself then Azula this time.

"Do I have to do everything for you?" Azula stated exasperated, "you're the Fire Lord! You have a whole navy at your disposal!" Zuko nodded to himself and turned on his heel and strode back to the aviary. He felt Azula right behind him, keeping pace with each step. The Fire Lord entered the aviary and pulled out some parchment to send his massage. Azula peered over his shoulder.

"What do you want now?" Zuko asked, keeping his tone even, "thank you, by the way."

"I didn't just do this for you," Azula said, "I'm coming too." Zuko stopped writing the letter.

"What?" he asked.

"I won't let _you_ have all the fun," Azula grinned. Zuko rolled his eyes to himself but knew better then to argue with her. With the court so concerned about Katara, no one would miss him for a few days. He selected the one hawk that knew where to go and rolled up the message in its pouch.

"Who are you writing now?" Azula questioned as she watched the bird take to the sky.

"Admiral Kalo," Zuko replied, "we'll need a ship."

"Perfect," Azula said as her familiar calculating smile spread over her lips.

---

An hour later Zuko and Azula walked aboard a large ship. The deck was mostly empty since all the catapults and large crossbows had been long dismantled. It was one of the larger ships that Zuko had managed to avoid being sunk to please the world after the war. It had since changed hands several times until the young Admiral Kalo had become its permanent captain for the last eight years. The man was one of the only military leaders who Zuko actually knew was not trying to brownnose him into a better rank and have their ideas put into effect.

He had been promoted to his role after the war had ended, only ninteen at the time. He had since been sent to help rebuild the Earth Kingdom and provide leadership and safety to the other men under his command and keep the pirating at the local ports to a minimum. He had done his job well and returned back to the Fire Nation only a few months before.

Zuko saw him as the start of the new generation of military leaders; ones who would provide leadership and protection without the hunger for power and ruthless killing. The Fire Lord just hoped he was not one of a kind. Zuko and Azula were greeted with a smile and a bow as the admiral walked on deck to meet them.

"Admiral Kalo," Zuko stated.

"Fire Lord Zuko," the admiral greeted, "Princess Azula," he added in a less friendly tone, but still cordially. He turned back to Zuko, "my crew and I are proud to have you aboard our ship." The Fire Lord nodded.

"Can you take us to the North Pole?" Zuko asked, "I know this is still part of your time off, but I need your help." The Admiral nodded with a confused expression. No one refused even a favor for the Fire Lord.

"Will it just be you two?" he asked as he called off orders to the rest of the crew and led them to the tower and the steering room. Zuko knew he was looking for Katara.

"Yes," Zuko stated. The main room's door opened and Zuko peered over the course map. "How fast can you get us there?"

"A little more than a week," Kalo said, explaining the course to the captain.

"We're in a hurry," Azula snapped. Zuko glared at her.

"Is there any way we can get there faster?" Zuko asked, taking a step towards him and away from his sister.

"We could probably make it in under a week, maybe a little less if all the engines are at full force," he replied, "what's the hurry?

"Katara's there," Zuko stated. He left the room; his sister followed before the door was closed, leaving Kalo alone with the navigator.

---

Night fell on the ocean and the great flying white bison landed on a small island. They had avoided the Fire Nation all together and flew towards the islands of the long ago Air Nomads. They landed on a beach and everyone slid onto the sand. Katara and Toph went off to collect wood for the fire Aang could now make for them. Soon, the flames licked at the air and warmed the area where they all sat. Tsun's attention, through his coughing fits, was held by the dancing flames. Kasumi had taken up the task of holding and watching her baby sister, Jia Li.

Most of their journey had been in silence. Only Tsun's bone jarring cough seemed to pull them back to reality. Aang's thought's always seemed elsewhere. After his conversation with Katara at how the 'court' seemed to be ruining the Fire Nation instead of helping the world, he was silent. His grey eyes cleared only when everyone's attention was focused on the slowly dying child in front of him as the boy coughed for longer and longer intervals.

Katara sat near him and kept a comforting hand on her son's shoulders. After each attack of coughing, his breathing was ragged and heavy, each breath a struggle. Kasumi watched her mother as she wrapped her arms around Tsun. He fell asleep on her lap, the fire light dancing across his face.

"We need to get to the North Pole faster," Katara stated, her voice lowered, "I don't know how much more he can take."

"We're not even halfway there," Aang sighed, "Appa needs to rest each night or we can't keep up at the speed we're going at." Katara sighed and rested her head on Tsun's shoulder, her blue eyes closed to keep her tears from surfacing.

Aang watched in silence. The fire flickered away as the sound of the tide and ebbing water filled the night.

---

Zuko stood on the deck of Kalo's ship watching the dark sky on the morning of the forth day they had been at sea. If the ship could make it to the port by noon, he could issue the command to halt the fighting that would surely ensue. The sun had yet to rise; the halo peeked out from below the horizon.

Footsteps echoed on the deck behind him. Zuko continued to watch the ocean as the man stood behind him waiting.

"Do you miss her?" asked Kalo, breaking the silence.

"Yes," Zuko said after a moment's hesitation, "more than I thought I would." Kalo was one of the more amiable admirals, but he, like the rest of the world, saw him and Katara as a perfect couple. Only Azula and the court knew of their imperfections, how their relationship seemed to be only smoke and mirrors. Silence fell between them. The sun peeked above the horizon.

"We'll reach the port in a few hours," Admiral Kalo announced. Zuko nodded and turned to make his way back to his room. He walked passed Azula as the sun pushed her from the shadows as she leaned against a wall. Her eyes flashed in the sun as she looked up to meet his.

"Liar," she sneered, a grin on her face. Zuko kept walking even as the words hit him. It was almost as if he could hear her train of thought, _why do you need to answer to him?_

"No," Zuko corrected, "you're wrong." He disappeared down the hall into the room he was given, leaving his sister with a confused expression which quickly changed to a knowing smile.

He wondered what had made him refute her claim In the first place. The Fire Lord started to wonder if he really did love Katara. He remembered the snatches of conversation between them that held softness and caring; of the times when he felt compelled to reach out and comfort her with a simple touch, and even when he found himself staring at her face, her lips, her ocean blue eyes for no reason.

Zuko tried to slow down his stampeding thoughts. The two of them had been pushed together under the worst of circumstances; he had never thought anything would bloom from it. When the two of them were still on opposite sides of the war he _had_ noticed her, but only because she seemed the key to capturing the avatar. Then in Ba Sing Se he saw a different side to the waterbender, one that vanished once he tried to repent for his actions by offering to help them. He had looked out for her as a teammate would, but he had never loved her back then.

He had had Mai before. This feeling he had now was different from that one though. Mai was demanding and needy, Katara was willing to listen and to sacrifice for the good of a concept that even he had trouble grasping at times. Zuko started to wonder what his relationship with Mai really was, and if that was not love, was what he felt now for Katara the real thing? Zuko sat on the bed in his room with his head in his hands, trying to figure out his emotions.

- -

"Are you sure you don't want me to get closer to the port?" asked Admiral Kalo as he leaned over the railing while a boat as lowered into the water below him.

"This is fine," Zuko called up. Azula sat next to him eyeing the water with hatred. They both were bundled up in thick red cloaks against the cold. "Don't let the other ships see you," Zuko called, "we'll find you when we need to." Kalo nodded and disappeared behind the steel railing. The small canoe like boat touched the water and Zuko released the lines tethering it the large ship. He grabbed the double sided oar and slowly maneuvered the craft away from the ship. Azula watched her brother steer them behind some large icebergs. She had heard him tell Admiral Kalo that his ship must not be seen and that they could not get too close to the Northern Water Tribe. The tribe's villagers, even while they had sanctioned the way the new order was to be run, still were wary of the Firebenders and their remaining military force.

The sun rose to its apex in the afternoon sky as Zuko and Azula climbed out of the boat and onto the small section of ice that jutted out from below the wall of the village. The gathered ships still had not made a move on the village and Zuko hoped he could find Katara before the court decided on a plan of attraction. They ducked around to the main wall. The ocean water was only inches from where they walked on the ice. Zuko noticed the watchman he had seen before were absent, but he figured that they had all eyes trained on the Fire Nation's navy. The scene reminded Zuko of the siege that took place here sixteen years ago, without the fighting -at least so far-.

Zuko pressed his hands to the solid wall of ice and watched the heat he had channeled to them melt it through. Azula rolled her eyes after a minute had passed and her brother had yet to get through. She added her power and together they melted an opening through the wall and slipped inside. To keep anyone from noticing the gap, Zuko pilled and packed snow into the hole.

"Anyone who's looking can tell that it's not part of the wall," Azula said offhandedly.

"Good thing no one's looking," Zuko smiled. Azula looked away and started off away from the wall. Zuko joined her. He was determined to find Katara first.

---

The sun had already begun to set by the time Kasumi tugged on Katara's sleeve and pointed towards a large mass of ice. Katara followed her daughter's eyes and spotted their destination. Her heart dropped as she saw the Fire Nation's Navy moored just outside the tribe's harbor.

"What's going on?" asked Aang, "would Zuko-?"

"He wouldn't," Katara stated, "but why-"

"What's happening?" Toph questioned. Katara turned to look at Toph and remembered she was blind to the invasion sized navy on the ocean waiting. Katara knew that most of the ships had to be disarmed and destroyed after the war, but could not remember how many were kept. This surely had to be over the Fire Nation's limit.

"The Fire Nation's navy is here," Aang explained.

"But what are they waiting for?" asked Katara. Tsun coughed suddenly, his whole body shaking. "We need to get into the tribe and fast, but we can't be seen."

"I know," Aang stated. Appa descended so that he flew inches from the ice that would soon be the buildings of the Northern Water Tribe. The ice just before the city formed random piles and up-bursts that were large enough for Appa to hide behind. Katara slid down onto the ice and Aang assisted Tsun. The boy held onto Katara's arm once his feet reached the ice and snow for stability. Toph peered over the saddle.

"I guess I'll just have to stay here with the girls," she said, "I can't see anything anyway." Katara watched as Kasumi handed Jia Li to Toph so she could curl up in her cloak. The girl watched her mother with understanding in her eyes; she did not want to cause trouble for anyone.

"We'll be back Toph, Kasumi," Katara called, "don't worry."

"We'll be fine," Toph called back, "now get going Sugar Queen." Katara smiled and pulled Tsun gently along after her through the snow to where the cliffs dropped off into the village. Any normal person would have seen the cliffs as impassible, but with two master benders, there was nothing stopping Aang and Katara. Aang would have just jumped down but he wanted to be careful with Tsun; the boy could hardly stand correctly as he was.

Katara shifted into a bending stance and pulled a stairway of snow from the side of the cliff for them to walk down. Aang went first, Katara leading Tsun after him down the snowy steps. They came to the bottom and found themselves at the edge of the town. Aang forced the snow made staircase back into the cliff and looked around. The town was deserted. He wondered if everyone had already taken cover. The Avatar frowned as he let Katara led them over a bridge and towards the center of the village at a rapid walk. This was supposed to be a time of peace; even after sixteen years, the mistrust between the two surviving nations and the Fire Nation still burned strong.

Once in the shadows of the buildings again, Katara paused. The stillness of the arctic air had changed. The air around her seemed to have changed from calm nervousness to a tense anticipation. A red flare shot above the city and exploded into a small display. Aang felt the change as well and turned to Katara.

"Katara," he said, "stay here. I'm going to tell them to stop whatever they're planning. Don't worry; I'll make sure you find Tsun a healer."

Katara nodded as she watched Aang sprint away and around the corner. She noticed he had neglected to bring his new glider she had seen on Appa's saddle before. Tsun leaned against one of the ice walls of a building and looked to Katara. They stood in silence for a moment until sounds from the ship's engines rang in Katara's ears. She heard the telltale sound of the ships' bows crushing ice barriers and metal booted feet hurrying across the platforms. She wondered if the navy was attacking.

Her attention turned to Tsun as he began coughing again. It was a dry, ragged cough at first until he doubled over and fell to his knees, his hands holding him up off the snow. Katara wished he would have told her he was hurting from all the coughing as she knelt beside him. The boy was never one to admit he could not do something. Admitting it would be weakness. Katara would see to it that Azula made sure to tell him that asking for help when he was injured was not a weakness; it meant that he was being smart, since it was Azula's fault he thought like this.

Tsun began choking, his breaths coming faster and faster. The young prince knelt on the snow for a moment, his breath coming in labored gasps. Katara lifted her son to his feet and noticed the snow was speckled red under where he had been coughing. Katara's blue eyes went wide when she realized he had been coughing up blood. The waterbender knew she could not wait for Aang; she had to get help _now_.

Katara lifted the seven-year-old into her arms and wrapped his legs around her waist. She let him lean his chin over her shoulder as her arms wrapped across his back to keep him from sliding. She hurried down the path as fast as she could with his added weight, a fast jog, and made for the bridge ahead of her.

Before she knew what was happening she was on her back in the snow on the bridge. She noticed it must have snowed recently since small snowflakes stuck to her hair. She looked up to see what had caused her fall and was met by golden eyes.

"Well you found here," Azula smiled.

"Katara," Zuko breathed. Katara watched him through Tsun's hair for a moment. They must have collided when their paths intersected. Katara wondered to herself how she had flipped over in the air to prevent Tsun from being squished under her, but pushed it from her mind as she sat up. Another flare burst above them over the city.

"The troops are in the city Zuko," Azula commented as she looked down the canal. Zuko was silent as he picked Tsun off of Katara.

"He's too weak to walk," Katara started to say, but she noticed that Zuko had already situated him on his back, like he was giving him a piggy-back ride. Zuko grabbed Katara's hand, pulled her to her feet, and ran down the walkway. Azula followed behind them as Zuko pulled Katara so she kept up. At the next branching of paths Katara switched the positions and led the way.

"This way," she instructed. Zuko hesitated for a moment before following after her, but it was long enough that Katara felt it was now her hand that closed around his. She did not have much time to dwell on it though; the healing hut appeared behind the next turn.

"There!" Katara exclaimed. She rushed through the door and ran into the woman who appeared to be just entering her fifties. The woman fell backwards, the blankets in her arms falling with her.

"I'm sorry!" Katara apologized. She helped the woman to her feet while she stood in the doorway.

"Why aren't you with the others at the palace," the woman questioned, "everyone is supposed to take cover."

"Katara," Zuko stated softly, but firm enough to demand her attention. He stepped inside the building and the woman gasped.

"Fire Lord Zuko," she squeaked. Katara ignored her panic for the time being as she focused on Tsun's shuddering body. He was coughing again, but he seemed to be trying to hold it back. Katara turned to the woman.

"Where is the healer?" she asked desperately.

"I a-am," the woman said shakily.

"Can you heal him?" Zuko questioned. He was not going to leave Tsun with just anyone, especially not a second rate healer. Katara needed Tsun to pull through, and it had taken Zuko until this morning to realize that he needed Katara back in his life in one piece.

"Of course," the woman stated. Zuko noticed she seemed to think that he thought of her as incompetent and now she wanted to prove him wrong, "I'm the master healer of the Northern Water Tribe." Katara wondered what happened to Yagoda, but pulled herself to the present when she heard shouting and explosions from outside. She looked up and felt Zuko's hand on her shoulder.

"Are Kasumi and the baby safe?" asked Zuko quietly. Katara remembered that the last time she had seen Zuko she had still been pregnant with Jia Li. She wondered if it was the tenseness of the situation they were in now that made him seem not at all surprised about the baby being already born. She mused that he had found out already through the same source that had brought him here to find her.

"Yes, Kasumi and Jia Li are with Appa and Toph," Katara replied. Zuko smiled to himself and Katara imagined him going over the new baby's name in his mind. His smile comforted her.

"Good… don't worry," he said, "Azula and I will take care of it." He let her take Tsun into her arms and disappeared out the door. Katara did not let her mind linger on the fact that his touch alone had reassured her or the fact that he had promised to protect her. She set Tsun on the small dais where she had learned healing before and explained the problem to the master healer.

- -

Zuko stepped through the threshold of the building. Azula glanced at him from the corner of her eye and then looked down the path. Four figures appeared from behind a building and made their way calmly over under the light from the rising full moon.

"What a surprise that we might find you two here," the shortest man of the group said. Azula could tell he was not the least bit surprised.

"Stop your attack," Zuko ordered, "Katara is safe. Kasumi and Tsun aren't in danger."

"That's too bad Zuko," the man frowned. Zuko stared at the man who had caused him so much grief back in the court meetings at the capital. For such a short man, he was a big pain. Zuko recognized the other member who represented the Fire Nation at the short man's right, but he did not know the two men behind them who dropped into bending stances.

"I'm the Fire Lord," Zuko growled, his golden eyes flashing, "you _will_ call off the troops."

"I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but you're no longer the Fire Lord," the man said with a grin, "the monarchy has been dissolved.

"You can't do that," Azula hissed. She pulled her cloak from her shoulders and let it pool on the snow behind her, out of her way. She might not have had on her armor, but she knew a fight when she saw one and was not going to back down. She grinned; she was going to enjoy this.

"You don't have the power to dissolve the royal line," Zuko stated.

"Don't we?" asked the short man. He took a step closer and Zuko felt himself tense. "The moment you and your sister left the Fire Nation, all the power fell to the court. With that power we held a meeting and disbanded the monarchy and replaced it with us. Since there was no one with royal blood to stop us, we now have total control."

"But the moment anyone of us steps foot back into the Fire Nation, your actions are void," Zuko stated, remembering the section of the document that they were pulling their power from. He had read the original document several times since the signing when he thought that the court was overstepping their power; they never were.

"That shouldn't be too hard to solve," the man smiled, "we'll just have to kill all of you." At some unseen signal one of the benders sent a stream of fire at Zuko. His surprise lasted all but a second as Azula came to his aid and blasted a hungry blue flame at the four men. Zuko sidestepped the attack and joined his sister. There was no way these men would get away with their plan.

- -

Katara looked up from Tsun's face when she saw the healer pull her hands back. The woman returned the unused water back to the small pool in the shape of a ring in the floor around them.

"So?" Katara asked nervously. She wanted to hear that her son was cured.

"I healed the slight damage done to his lungs from his coughing," the woman sighed, "but, I can't cure the illness."

"You have to be able to," Katara cried, this was her last hope at healing him. Why had she risked everyone's lives to come to the North Pole with the court chasing after her when she could have stayed with her brother just to know that Tsun would die? Katara closed her blue eyes as her thoughts composed themselves.

"What about the spirit water at the oasis?" Katara questioned. The woman looked taken by surprise.

"You know about that?" she asked. Katara nodded. This woman obviously had no idea who she was. When Katara sent news that the spirit water had healed Aang all those years ago and he survived the deadly attack, the Northern Water Tribe had been proud of her quick thinking and of Master Pakku's decision to train her and give her the gift in the first place. If she would have received Aang's letters, Katara would have known that she held a place of honor in the Northern Water Tribe; everyone _supposedly_ knew her name. Except everyone also knew she was supposed to be in the Fire Nation, not running around the world like she used to.

"Will the water help him?" Katara asked, "that water has special healing properties, it can go beyond what normal water can do, and with a master healer guiding it-" Flattery _always_ helped.

"It won't hurt to try," the woman replied, "carry him." Katara picked up Tsun in her arms and balanced him so he would not fall. The healer and Katara stepped outside the healing hut and found a small battle raging. Katara noticed the two men who represented the Fire Nation along with two benders she had never seen before, attacking Zuko and Azula.

One of the benders caught sight of the two women and sent a fire ball in their direction. Katara would have bent some of the snow at her feet up to stop it, but her arms were full holding Tsun. Zuko noticed and stepped between the fire and Katara, his arms wide as he stopped the flames and it was snuffed out. Zuko gave her a quick look and saw the woman pulling on her arm to follow. Katara watched Zuko, her mind buzzing on whether he stopped the fireball to protect her or for Tsun. Zuko knew that each second she stood there staring, they were all put in danger. She had to get away from the battle.

The other bender sent a series of kicks at Azula, none of which hit, but they landed dangerously close to where the healer's feet had been only moments before. The woman's knees buckled under her and she fell to the snow in shock. The shorter man pulled out a short sword the length of his forearm and threw it at the healer's stunned figure. Neither Zuko nor Azula were in any position to stop it. Luckily, an unseen force sent the blade whirling into the snow near her knees. The avatar appeared at the roof of the healing hut and jumped down to help the healer up. Once on her feet she pulled Katara's sleeve in the direction of the oasis. Katara stood still as a statue, blue eyes locked onto golden ones.

"Katara go!" Zuko ordered. Her concentration broke and she let herself be pulled from the battle and around a corner. She heard Aang trying to reason with the men before they turned another corner and it all was lost to her ears

As Katara stepped around the building and disappeared from sight, Aang stepped forward. Zuko watched the three men who were still in front of him and the fourth who was just out of his sight. Azula wondered what the Avatar was thinking as he stepped in front of her and Zuko.

"What are you doing?" he questioned. Zuko had thought that he would be able to figure it out. _Obviously_ the four men were trying to kill them.

"Step out of the way Avatar Aang, unless you want to die as well," the shortest man stated. Zuko saw the blood lust in his eyes. The man walked to their right, Zuko and Aang's eyes following his every step. Without warning, a blast of fire came towards them as the two benders combined their attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, Azula saw a flash of red. The tall man used the distraction to follow after Katara and the healer. Azula took a step in the same direction to follow, than hesitated.

"Zuko!" she called. Her brother blocked a set of fiery punches and looked to her.

"One of them went after Katara," Azula called. Zuko's eyes went wide for a moment until he sprinted passed her as Azula blocked an attack headed for his back.

"Thank you," he mumbled as he passed her. Azula grinned to herself and took a breath. Lightning shot from her fingertip at one of the benders. She hit her mark.

"You're welcome," she smiled jauntily.

---

"Mom," Tsun whispered as another set of coughs racked his body. While the coughing sounded less painful, he was still weak; he needed to be fully cured before his body gave out on him. Katara watched as the healer opened the portal-like door to the oasis and stepped through. Katara followed her, hoping it would ok if they left the door open since her hands were full. The woman knelt beside the pool and Katara laid Tsun down in front of her. Tsun closed his golden eyes and tried to stifle the series of coughs that overcame to him.

Katara took a step back and heard a sound above her. She turned her head and saw Appa land nearby. The bison landed on a section of ice and slipped before regaining his balance with his six legs. Kasumi, Jia Li in her arms, slid down his tail onto the snow and hurried over to Katara.

Katara took Jia Li into her arms and snuggled with the baby for a moment before wrapping one of her arms around Kasumi. Katara turned to watch as the healer began her task with the oasis water. She leaned against one of the wooden poles that stood just a small ways from the pool to wait. The healer's expression alone told Katara that something was happening that was different. The water was being absorbed by something. Whether or not it would cure Tsun, Katara was still unsure.

"Is Toph still-?" Katara started to ask.

"I'm here," Toph called from Appa's saddle. Katara saw her wave a hand in her direction and smiled. Toph probably thought that there was no ground here so she was staying on Appa's saddle. The woman with Tsun pulled more water from the pool. Katara could see the two koi fish swimming in their never changing circle throughout the pool. She hugged Kasumi closer as she looked to the sky. The moon was bright and full as it peaked overhead. She hoped the power all waterbenders drew from it aided the healer with Tsun.

The silent moment was shattered as Katara felt a presence behind her; a glint of steel flashed before her blue eyes just before she felt the sharp edge of a blade pressed to the front of her neck. Katara pushed Kasumi away from her body. The girl fell to the ground on her stomach, rolled onto her back, and looked up at her mother, fear crossing her golden eyes. Katara cringed as her action pressed her neck closer to the blade; a thin line of red appeared where it cut her skin superficially.

"Don't move," the man holing the knife ordered. Katara obeyed. Her eyes flew to the entrance of the oasis when she heard footsteps. Zuko ran in and stopped when he saw Katara's situation. He took a few steps until the man with the knife shouted out at him.

"Don't come any closer," he ordered. He pressed the blade against Katara's neck; she winced. Zuko stiffened and took a single step backwards in compliance. The red line began to well with blood just under the cut. Katara tried to still her hammering heart.

"If you try anything I'll kill her, the baby, the prince and princess, and then you and your sister," the man stated. Zuko had never heard so many words come from this man's mouth at once. It was normally his partner who did the talking; he was always silently nodding in the background. Zuko would have never have thought of him as a threat before. He mentally cursed himself for not seeing this coming.

"Don't do anything drastic," Zuko said calmly, "if you'd just put the sword down-"

"No," the tall man stated. He looked to Zuko with confusion for a moment before moving his left hand, the one without the sword, from Katara's chin to where her shoulder and neck meet. "Why do you want her to live so badly? What's she to you?"

The question caught Zuko by surprise. Katara was stunned as well. The man seemed genuinely curious as to the reason though.

"You don't love her," the man stated, Zuko cringed inwardly, only his eyes giving his inner thoughts away. He continued, "so why protect her when you could save the others?"

Katara wanted to turn around and punch the man in the face, but her hands were around Jia Li. She wanted to tell him they had been teammates, they had worked together and had to compromise and get through so many situations; they had gone through hell with the court together. They were partners through it all. Though Katara did wonder why Zuko had reacted slightly to the man's statement. No one else could have seen it, but she knew how to see beneath the mask he always wore outside the palace. It was as if the man's words had hit home.

She closed her eyes and her mind ran with the thought as the man tightened his grip on the blade and slid his fingers up her neck slowly to press her chin upwards, stretching the already damaged skin. Her blood began to bead at the surface of the cut. Katara opened her eyes and saw why he had moved. Azula and Aang had appeared and each seemed to wear a different express on their face: surprise in Azula's case, and shell-shock in Aang's case, at her predicament.

"If either of you move, I'll kill her," the man threatened. Aang put his hands in front of his body, palms open, in a sign of peace and took a step forward. Katara hissed as the knife was pressed into her skin. A drop of blood slid down the front of her neck.

Kasumi blinked back tears as she lay petrified on the ground. The healer was still, her job done; Tsun lay with his head in her lap, his breathing even and controlled. Katara wished Jia Li had still been in Kasumi's arms. The koi pool was so close. Kasumi's feet were only inches away from where Katara stood. If the princess reached a little to her right, her hand would be in the water. Katara knew if she bent the water into an attack she would not be fast enough to get away unharmed.

"Why are you doing this?" Aang asked. He stood at Zuko's right; his face had a pained look plastered onto it, "what will killing Katara accomplish?"

"Once the royal line if gone, the full powers of the new government will be put into permanent effect," the man stated.

"The Fire Nation is fine the way it is," Aang said, "I-"

"_You_ were too lenient after the war ended," the man said, "you let _him_ keep the throne instead of giving the nation over to the newly decided court."

"What difference would it have made?" asked Aang. Azula raised her eyebrows as his emotions grew beneath his calm exterior as he continued, "you're both working to keep the world in balance!" His exclamation ignited a soft yet malicious laugh from the man.

"Why is that so funny?" asked Zuko through his teeth. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. Katara watched his reaction and felt the same way. The man's laughter sent shivers down her spine, though that might have been because he was laughing into her ear.

"The reason you shouldn't have kept the throne is because you don't have the want to be the best," the man explained, "once we would have had control, we would have used the cover of peace to infiltrate the world, then given the signal, and attacked. What do you do? You actually tried to balance the world and make everyone equal. Your father was right to banish you." Zuko narrowed his golden eyes as he moved to jump into a firebending stance to attack. The man grinned and flexed his fingers around the sword at Katara's neck. The blade suddenly burned at her skin, the metal unreasonably hot. Katara cried out and took a step backwards into the man trying to escape the heat. He pressed the blade to her skin even as she tried to avoid it. Another stream of blood flowed slowly down her neck. Katara's blue eyes were shut tight as her breathing became faster. Her hold around Jia Li was tense as she tried not to clench her arms too tight.

"Remember now Zuko," the man grinned, "don't make any sudden moves. I can make the blade even hotter if I want." Aang's fury was clouded by his confusion. He had thought that the man had only pressed the knife deeper to Katara's neck. Katara had not reacted this way before.

"What are you doing to her?" the avatar asked, his voice begging the man to stop without admitting the words.

"He's a bender," Azula stated with a calm voice. Her eyes were still riveted on Katara, "but he can't bend fire the way normal benders do. Firebenders like him can only focus the fire's _heat_ to their hands and feet. Normal benders go one step further and can form fire. Apparently he can't _fire_bend, or he would have done it already." She looked to him with an expression in her eyes daring him to prove her wrong.

"The princess is right," the man said, "I can't bend. But this is more much effective for this task, don't you think?" He pressed the blade into Katara's neck slowly as he sent more heat into the metal. Katara felt tears escape from her closed eyes as she felt the skin on her neck start to go numb from the burning.

"If you just wanted us dead," Zuko spoke, "then why did you change the laws about inheriting the throne? Why did you make more trouble for yourself?"

"Killing all of you would have been a delicate matter back in the capitol," the man replied, "instead we tried to use the section of the document that the leaders of the world drew up after the war ended that would transfer the power to us without incident."

"There wasn't any part in that agreement that would give you all that power," Aang said.

"Don't you remember?" the man asked, a grin on his face, "if either Zuko or Katara decided to terminate the union and separate, the original world leaders decided that the power would fall to the decided group after three weeks."

"I don't remember that part," Aang said as he looked down, trying to remember it. Now that he thought about it, he recalled skimming through the document only lightly before signing it that day. He thought that only topics that they had talked about would have been added to it. "Why would they do that?"

"Because they didn't trust me," Zuko answered for him. He recalled sitting and listening to the conversation of trust between him and the other nations. "Without Katara's tie to the Water Tribes, they thought I would launch concealed attacks at the other nations and take over. Exactly like the court is planning to do."

"So the part was added and _she,_" the man said as he tightened his grip on Katara's chin and turned her face to face Aang, Zuko, and Azula, "broke it when she took the two heirs and left the Fire Nation." Katara took a deep breath and looked at Zuko. Her vision blurred over and she blinked, a new set of hot tears raced down her cheeks. She knew she should have been paying attention at that meeting. She had been so mad at the fact that they had chosen her to get married that her mind had focused on trying to get out of her task.

"As part of the court's job," the man continued, "we had the right to decide if her action was a break in the agreement; and we decided it was. Why wouldn't we, she finally took the hint we had been trying to send since day one."

"You were trying to separate us?" asked Zuko.

"While everyone else may have seen you two as the perfect pair of elemental opposites working together for balance, my partner and I saw the opposition repelling the two of you since the wedding. If there was nothing holding you two together to begin with, it would be all the easier to break you apart," the man explained with an evil sneer on his face.

"And you can see how well that worked," Azula said as she rolled her eyes.

"So all the rules and the time limits and the change in who can become an heir to the throne were to try and get us to hate each other and call off the marriage?" Zuko asked.

"You two held on tighter then we'd thought," the man growled, "we were about to switch tactics until _she_ decided she'd had enough and left. But now, it would seem that you two have every intention of returning to the Fire Nation and keeping the throne. Too bad I can't let you do that." The man lowered his voice and spoke softer so Katara would know it was her to whom he was addressing. "As thanks for this opportunity," the man smirked in her ear, "you can die first." Katara closed her blue eyes and bit her lip as he tilted her chin higher. He pushed the blade slowly across her neck so he could make one swift cut in the other direction, but was stopped short by surprise.

"No," came a small voice. Katara let the breath she had been holding free and looked down in surprise at her daughter. The girl had sat up, her left hand curled in a fist, her right one hovering in the air as if she was going to pick up a rock and throw it at the man. Zuko was stunned. It was the first time either Zuko or Katara had heard her talk in a long time.

"So you decided to break your silence," the man stated with an amused look. Kasumi's golden eyes narrowed.

"You will not hurt my mom!" she exclaimed. She whipped her right hand around from behind her and closed her fist mid-motion. The knife slid across Katara's neck as the man fell backwards, slicing a deep but not immediately fatal cut. Katara sank to her knees and shifted Jia Li in her arms so she could touch her neck. Kasumi crawled forward and met her mother's eyes, a new determination burning in them.

"Are you ok?" she mumbled. Katara saw Zuko, Azula, and Aang rush in their direction; they moved passed them and converged behind her. Katara heard lightning hiss through the air and saw a flash of fire through her blurring vision out of the corner of her eye. The scent of burning flesh filled her noise and she coughed. After the quick attack, she heard nothing. She began to sway even though she was seated on her knees.

"Mom!" Kasumi cried. The girl took Jia Li from her mother's arms and held her with one arm while trying to keep her mother from falling over with the other. Katara's vision dimmed until her view of the world pulsed to the beat of her heart. She pulled her hand away from her neck and saw it coated in her own blood. The wound must have been deep. Katara felt the world start spinning out of control until her name brought her back.

"Katara," she heard Zuko's voice say. She felt her daughter's shaky hand replaced with his steady ones. Zuko leaned Katara backwards so she could lean against him. Katara tried to clear her blue eyes, but the world seemed to refuse to come into focus. She felt Kasumi crying against her legs, the girl's sobs shook both their bodies.

"Zuko," Katara heard Azula say. She wondered why it sounded like the princess actually cared; there was no malice or teasing in her tone at all. "He got her when he fell; the wound is deeper than it looks." Katara could have told them that, but she wasn't thinking straight enough to form the statement. If any of them had turned to look at Azula they would have seen the princess holding the blood stained blade to the light. She gave it a final once over and threw it at the lifeless, charred body behind her. Katara felt a hand at her neck around the torn skin, she cringed.

"Sorry," Zuko mumbled as he drew his hand back. Katara felt the others hovering around her. She could physically feel her eldest daughter at her legs. She hoped someone had Jia Li, because Kasumi no longer had her in her arms. Azula stood behind Zuko who sat with her head propped on his knees; Aang and another presence, who she realized was Toph, stood on her right side. Everyone was silent. Katara lifted her hand to neck again and was stopped in mid motion. Zuko caught her wrist gently and set it back on her stomach.

"Don't," he said gently. She saw a small figure rise at the edge of the pool and take a few steps to her. One of the Koi fish splashed at the surface of the oasis pool.

"The water!" Toph exclaimed, "Katara can heal herself." Katara responded with an agreeing ah-hm.

"Or the healer-" Aang's statement was cut off as he turned to look at the woman. She was lying on the ground.

"She passed out when you attacked," Tsun stated, referring to Azula's, Zuko's, and Aang's attack on the man. Zuko noticed he sounded more normal already; his voice no longer had the lingering sound of someone who had been coughing for a long period of time. Zuko stood and carefully lifted Katara. Her head rested against his left shoulder while his arms supported her under her knees and around her back. Her hands were folded in her lap as he moved to stand over the koi pool. The two fish, still swimming in their never ending circle, moved from the center of the pool to the edges, as if inviting the pair to join them.

Zuko surprised the watching group when he stepped into the pool. The water came to his knees when he stood in the center, and it was not cold as he thought it would be. Zuko slowly bent over until he was sitting on his knees in the pool; the water came to the middle of his chest. He felt his clothing and cloak absorb the water and let a slight chill seep through, but his mind was on other things. Katara lay in his lap, the water soaking through her blue clothing as well. The Fire Lord picked up Katara's hand and held it at the surface of the water.

"Katara," he said, "are you ready?" Katara looked up at Zuko. Just being in the water seemed to have helped a little; she could make out his face but not the details, it was really only his golden eyes she could focus on. Katara nodded. The water around her hand glowed bright blue and Zuko lifted it to Katara's neck. The bloody wound was slowly stitched shut as the miracle water healed the skin. The gash was deep, and it took a while until the blood stopped flowing.

Katara's vision slowly returned until she could see everyone once again. Azula leaned against the pole that Katara had not chosen to use before. Her red cloak was pulled tight over her shoulders in an effort to not admit she was cold. Kasumi and Tsun sat near Appa pulling his white fur through their fingers, combing it. They both glanced over in their parents' direction a few times to make sure everything was all right. Toph sat on the ground, tugging at the arctic grass in an effort to pass the time while 'watching' the infant. Aang, after seeing the situation was being taken care of, left to call off the navy and explain the situation. The others had left them alone.

"What happened?" Katara asked. Her voice was soft and she cringed after the words left her throat. "Why did he-?"

"It was Kasumi," Zuko explained. Katara simply relayed her confusion through her eyes.

"I don't know if it was a spur of the moment thing or if she could do it all along," Zuko said, "but she used water bending and turned the water from the pool into an icicle and hit him in the eye." Katara blinked a few times in astonishment. It was unbelievable, Kasumi had used water bending. It had taken her sixteen years to discover she had the power, but she had finally found it. Katara smiled.

"And what about-" Katara asked, her eyes searching for the tall man's figure without moving her head.

"Don't worry about him," Zuko reassured her, "Azula and I took care of him." Katara visibly relaxed in the water. The glow around her hand grew brighter as her strength returned. The bleeding at her neck had stopped, but the wound could still be healed further. Katara closed her eyes in silence for a moment as she let the events wash over her. She felt Zuko's heartbeat and heard his breathing as she relaxed further into the water and consequently into him. She opened her eyes and looked up.

"Zuko," she asked, "before, when he asked you why you wanted me to live," she dropped her eyes to the water and saw the black fish swim by her feet, it's dorsal fin breaking the surface. She looked back to his eyes. "You cringed when he-" Katara's words were cut off as Zuko's lips met hers in a tender kiss. The moment lasted until Zuko lifted his head once more. He guided her hand away from her newly healed neck.

"Does that answer your question?" he smiled gently.

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I told you it was Zutara! Haha! Anyway only the epilogue is left. I would have a gooey romantic moment but it would kill the tone and I would butcher the scene beyond recognition. Tell me what you thought of it… Was anyone way too out there for their character (for what I've built them to be anyway), I tried to keep everyone as close to their character design as possible, aside from Azula because she's too cool to go crazy : ) …

I really love reviews, but I'm not getting a lot of them… it makes me want to cry.


	6. Epilogue

**I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender**…

I never really intended to write this chapter, but my sister wanted me to do it so I did. I did not have a final piece outlined like I did for the rest of the chapters, so this one is just like a free write. I'll tie up all the loose ends I've created, hopefully. And there will finally be Zutara :)!... well a little...

Thanks for all readers who loved the story, and for Doctor Anthony who was my first reviewer! The character Kalo belongs to Doctor Anthony as well. (He's the only other non canon character who actually has a name in my story aside from the children if you noticed.) I wanted to distance the actual characters from the made up ones… (did it work or was it annoying?)

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Chapter 6) _Epilogue_

Admiral Kalo's boat was quiet as the sun rose. The port of the capital of the Fire Nation was just in sight of the boat; they would land at noon if the tides held. Zuko stood watching the sunrise on the deck, thinking over the events that had just taken place in the past week.

They: Azula, the three children, Appa, Aang, Toph, Katara, and him had spent the last six days sailing home from the Northern Watertribe. They had all spent two days in the North Pole after the small attack to clear things up with the leaders of the village. Luckily, Katara's name was still remembered and even _revered_ so negotiations and apologies were handled much more diplomatically then if Zuko had been there alone. With Aang being there as well, almost all was forgiven and an _almost_ easy peace was settled. The leaders were expecting a messenger hawk the moment their ship returned to the Fire Nation announcing that he had successfully taken back his throne with no further delays and to elaborate on the situation. Zuko was already dreading the letter that would come in reply.

The sun moved higher in the sky and a slight breeze picked up, offsetting the rising morning heat. Zuko had since shed his cloak for his own attire more suited to the Fire Nation's warm climate. The Fire Lord turned around when he thought he heard a noise. The only thing his golden eyes spotted was Appa. The bison was happily sleeping on the deck of the ship, enjoying his break from flying. Zuko turned back around and watched the port grow closer. He felt a gentle presence behind him and watched out of the corner of his eye as Katara made her way to the railing next to him. He turned and looked at her for a moment. The waterbender had a placid smile on her face; her blue eyes were closed as she seemed to be basking in the sunlight.

Zuko smiled as he watched her. He could hear his uncle's voice reminding him not only that you don't appreciate something until it's gone, but also that you will never know what you do not have until you find it. Zuko had lived both lessons in the past two weeks. Katara leaned against Zuko as the sun peaked the open, extinct volcano the capital city was nestled in. The port loomed closer; soon the moment would be lost. Zuko looked down at her. She appeared to still be sleeping on her feet. He had never known her to wake up this early before. Zuko pushed his musings aside and was glad she had decided to join him.

After a few minutes Katara felt Zuko shift and rest his hands on the railing in front of them. She saw the rolled up message clenched in his left hand which he had received the night before. It was dated to the time of the failed invasion.

Katara looked to him as she reached out and covered his hand with her own. Zuko met her blue eyes.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. She moved closer so her back could rest against him as well as her shoulders and head. Zuko opened the scroll and read it aloud to her. He needed her opinions; he _wanted_ to know what she thought of it all.

"Fire Lord Zuko, I regret to inform you of the assassination of the two Earth Kingdom members of your council and the attempted murder of my partner, one of the watertribe members. The killers were apprehended and found to be working for the two Fire Nation representatives. They have been dealt with. We, the two water tribesmen will met you at the port to discuss our final ideas before we depart for home, as we no longer wish to take part in the court. I am not to disclose the plans, but let me assure you that you will be pleased with our final decisions," Zuko stated. Katara sighed.

"They really tried to take full control," Katara said. She watched the ocean break around the ship as they neared the port. Other ships were coming into view. Zuko thought to what they had meant of 'taking care of them'. He doubted they had taken care of them as Azula had done for the men they had encountered at the North Pole. There was hardly anything left after she had aimed a few powerful lightning bolts at them to even worry about cleaning up after the battle. Zuko reminded himself to never let his sister get that angry at him, ever. He doubted even Katara could stop her.

"I don't want to think of what the remainder of the court has in mind now that they want to disband," Zuko stated, "they could-" Katara interrupted him.

"They said you'd like it," Katara smiled, she pulled his arm around her waist gently and held onto his hand, "don't think about it too much. Enjoy this last bit of freedom from the responsibility." Zuko smiled and took her advice. The two watched the ocean and the rising sun until they docked.

--

By the time the ship was tied off, the rest of the group had joined them on the deck. A small crowd of advisors and guards stood on the dock waiting to accompany them back to the palace. Katara sighed at the sight. Kasumi looked to her mother and shifted Jia Li into one of her arms so she could touch Katara's arm with the other. While the girl had taken back up her speech, she had already mastered expressing herself without it. Katara gave her daughter a smile and turned to Tsun. The prince's excitement at returning home was apparent on his face. Katara took a step from Zuko; breaking their comfortable position together they had kept for the past hour and made sure Kasumi had a proper hold on Jia Li. The baby was in a new dress but still wrapped in a blanket as she slept.

Admiral Kalo joined them on the deck. The man was still a little star struck at seeing Aang and having him on his ship. The gangplank was lowered and Zuko and Katara led the way into the crowd. Zuko was not surprised that there were no civilians in the group. He had left in a hurry and had wanted to keep everything a secret. His wishes had apparently been honored.

Toph and Aang followed Kasumi and Tsun behind Zuko and Katara off the boat. Azula stepped off the boat last. She was disappointed; her fun was over for the time being.

Katara noticed Zuko had slid effortlessly into his regal persona; she did not want to have too as well. She pretended that she had and walked beside him through the small crowd towards the two men from the Watertribe. One of the men nervously glanced over his should after each minute that passed. Katara guessed he was the one who had had a brush with death. The second man watched the two of them; they looked different. Neither Zuko nor Katara's appearance had changed; the man was even used to Katara's preference of blue clothing. Being of the water tribe himself he knew the importance of the color to her. She wore her blue dress which stood in stark contrast to Zuko's red outfit. The azure outfit had been a gift from the Northern Watertribe. It was cut for the Fire Nation's warmer weather and had the Fire Nation's royal insignia embroidered onto it in gold.

He noticed it was more the way they walked. The way the space between them was no longer cold, but instead they seemed to mesh; their auras were no longer divided, but one. A smile slid over the man's features as he switched the document between his hands. He knew his partner and he had made the right choice now.

The group approached the two men and stopped. The remaining councilmen bowed for Zuko and Katara and then were silent for a moment.

"Where are the other two men?" asked Aang as he stepped forward. One of the men looked to Zuko.

"You didn't show him the letter?" he asked.

"No," Zuko stated, "only Katara and I know what was written on it." The man's confusion was replaced by another soft smile. The Fire Nation men would have used his decision as a test; one he would have failed, but to him, the Fire Lord had passed. The two were finally seeing things together; it had only taken a few more near death adventures to get them to this point.

"Aang," Zuko said as he turned to him, "the two men who represented the Earth Kingdom were murdered as a part of the plan to take the Fire Nation from my control. Without anyone with power but them, they would have completed their takeover and you would have had another war to stop." Aang was silent as the news washed over him.

"Luckily we caught the assassins and found out the story before we joined our fellow councilmen," the man with the scroll explained. The nervous one only nodded before throwing a glance over his shoulder. Kasumi watched his actions with her understanding golden eyes; she had been the same way before.

"What news do you have for me?" asked Zuko. Azula stepped closer; any news regarding her brother would apply to her as well. Katara was interested as well. She noticed how Zuko had stiffened as he said the words, regretting the answer. Without a word she threaded her arm around his and took his hand. Zuko seemed to relax at her action. Almost everyone in the surrounding grouped was surprised. They had never seen their Fire Lord and Lady initiate any kind of physical contact, even within the palace. The two water tribesmen's minds were clearly decided at this point; the two had come a long way and this decision was absolutely the right one. The man unfolded the scroll and read it aloud.

"On behalf of the remaining councilmen we have decided that instead of naming new representatives that would cause the repetition of events that should rest forever, we will, with our remaining powers annul the council and all its responsibility and return it's given powers to the rightful ruler Fire Lord Zuko." Zuko managed to keep his jaw from dropping to keep up appearances; Katara was too stunned to care. Azula was surprised as well, only her raised eyebrows and amused grin gave away her delight.

"Really?" questioned Admiral Kalo. He seemed the most visibly happy. While he had known the role the court had played since the start unlike Toph and Aang, yet he had not lived through its demands like Katara and Zuko, he was the first to recover from the shock.

"Of course," the water tribesman stated as he folded the scroll back up, "the rest of the writing pertains to the legalities of it all and gives back all the rights awe took from you. Everything will be returned to prewar status."

"How did you accomplish that?" asked Katara.

"After you left the Northern Water Tribe, the village head there sent us a letter," the man explained, "that you were returning and had stayed lover for negotiations longer than expected." They explained what had happened in simpler terms then you had probably explained to them and how nothing like this should ever happen again."

"We received that letter just as I sent that one to you," the man explained motioning to the message in Zuko's hand, "so I wrote them about this new idea. They should be getting their letter soon."

"They're expecting a message from me as well," Zuko stated. Katara smiled and spoke up then.

"And the Earth Kingdom?" asked Katara.

"After I explained the situation they agreed with our decision and they feel they can trust you two enough to led the Fire Nation. Their outposts relayed the message faster than any of our birds could," the man stated. Zuko seemed to have finally come to terms with the decision.

"Thank you," he said truthfully. His golden eyes were closed, and he could not see the surprised look that floated across the two men's faces. Never before had the Fire Lord said those words to them or the court with such meaning. Katara gave his hand a gentle squeeze and looked up. Zuko opened his golden eyes and met her cerulean ones. Never before had her eyes looked so bright and lively. The life that the end of the war was supposed to bring for everybody had not been forgotten. Katara smiled as the two of them turned slowly back to face the remaining court. Zuko reached out and took the scroll; he handed it to Katara. The two court men bowed to the Fire Lord and Katara and then stepped aside to catch their own boat to the Northern Water Tribe. Zuko and Katara turned back to each other and shared another moment to themselves until it was broken abruptly; Azula pushed between them to walk back to the palace, shooting her brother a sly smile as she passed.

"The strings have been cut Zuko, be careful not to fall," she grinned. Zuko let a light smile cross his face as he watched his sister led the way back to the palace. Tsun hurried after her, more in hopes of seeing the palace first then anything else. Kasumi followed him a leisurely walk, carrying Jia Li for her mother. Katara watched them and laced her fingers through Zuko's. Together they returned to where everything had ended, and everything could begin anew.

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… The End …

(lame attempt at a last phrase to close the story *sweat drop*)

Tell me what you thought of it as a whole… Even though it is done, I still like your comments... I don't bite people, I love getting reviews! I want to make my future writings better! Please…

I'd love to know if you thought the plot was too complex or if you don't think it was resolved enough… If parts were confusing in any portion of the story… please tell me… it helps to know what I need to improve for my next stories. (I like to know what I did right as well).

Thank you all… I hope you liked it


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